The Japan Foundation Fellowship for Arts and Culture in Asia - List of Fellows for FY 2026-27

Marjito Iskandar Tri Gunawan is an art practitioner and documentary filmmaker based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, working at the intersection of photography and film. He is a talented filmmaker with a passion for storytelling and documentary film, focusing on cultural, social, and environmental issues. He brings a unique perspective to his work, aiming to raise awareness and inspire change through the power of cinema.
Since 2010 he has focused on developing his own production house, Tumbuh Kembang Indonesia and has produced audio visual content for international NGOs and Institutions.
His documentary film was selected in several film festivals, among others, Sneaky Robber(2009) Official Selection Jogja Netpac Asian Film Festival, Indonesia, 2010; and Arkipel International Experimental and Documentary Film Festival, Indonesia, 2012. The First Impression (2015) Best Short Film (Jury Media Choice) XXI Short Film Festival, Indonesia, 2016. The Crescent in Dragon Village (2015) Official Selection Freedom Film Festival, Malaysia, 2017; DocCross Asia, Japan, 2021. The Light of Hope (2017) Special Mention Award, Kota Kinabalu International Film Festival, Malaysia, 2017. The Fighter (2018) Official Selection Visual Documentary Project 2018, Japan. The Independence Day: Between Tears and Laughter (2023) Best short film nominee, Festival Film Indonesia 2023. Hope from the Edge of Town (2024), Official Selection Megacities Shortdocs FIlm Festival, Paris, 2024. Fighting For The Future, Jury Special Mention Award, ReelOzInd Australia Indonesia Short FIlm Festival 2025
Gunawan is one of the awardees of the 2024 Endangered Material Knowledge Programme grant at the British Museum, United Kingdom

Farah Hidayati, born in Banjarmasin, South Borneo, graduated from Architecture Department, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
Her first book Rumah Tumbuh (Growing Home) published by Grasindo, is a winner of Youth Literature Competition in 2005. This book won Adhikarya Ikapi Award as one of the best literature for young people in 2006. She continue writing fiction includes Konstelasi Rindu (Rindu Constellations) published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama. She also writes nonfiction books including co-authored books related to disaster preparedness for several NGO publications. She combines her ability on writing fiction and non fiction by crafting disaster educational stories in a comic book Jejak Ombak Dari Selatan (Traces of Waves from The South) published by BNPB (National Disaster Management Agency), a governmental organisation in Indonesia.

Born in 1998 in Hiroshima, Japan. Graduated from the Kyoto–Heidelberg International Joint Degree Master of Arts Program in Transcultural Studies (VMC Focus), jointly offered by Kyoto University and Heidelberg University.
After working at a TV and film production company, currently involved in the management of the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. As a member of Ship and Wind: Climate Journal, engages in activities such as organizing independent film screenings.

So Mitsuya

Miyu Hosoi (b. 1993) is a sound artist whose practice centers on sound installations and experimental theatre pieces. Through her projects, she explores both the possibilities and limitations of sound as a medium of communication. In recent years, she has also engaged in research-based projects in Japan and abroad, focusing on the memories and records of places, objects, and people.
Her work has been presented at the Barbican Centre(London), Mori Art Museum(Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Hibiya Park, Rohm Theatre Kyoto, Nagano Prefectural Art Museum, NTT ICC, YCAM, among others.

加藤甫

Born in 1994. Artist. Co-Director of PARADISE AIR. Board member of the General Incorporated Association SOW. Founder of Studio Dead End.
Working across a variety of media, he creates socially and politically engaged works rooted in historical narratives and personal histories. Alongside his individual artistic practice, he develops art projects and artist-in-residence programs from the perspective of social practice, engages with cultural policy, and creates points of connection between art and society.
He received the Eriko Kimura Prize at Art Award Tokyo Marunouchi 2021. Selected exhibitions include Instant Demo (Demo Practice) at Tokyo Arts and Space (Tokyo) and The Constitution of Japan Exhibition 2024 at MISA SHIN GALLERY (Tokyo).

Helly Minarti is Yogyakarta-based independent curator/dramaturg of contemporary performance within the context of Asia/Oceania. She seeks to align her politics/practice by rethinking radical strategies (of hers and other’s), connecting them with theories grounded in the experiential-historical. Applying curating-as-research, one of her core interests is looking at the historiographies of choreography as discursive practice vis-á-vis the eclectic knowledge that relates the human body, consciousness and nature. She has co-curated/facilitated various festivals/platforms. Her signature projects include Jejak-旅 Tabi Exchange: Wandering Asian Contemporary Performance (2018-2021) in four Asian cities; and The Sea Within (2023-24) the first edition of Cruising curator residency of Taipei Arts Festival. Lately, she started documenting her curatorial practice through writing and engaging it with others’ of different contexts.

細田純平

Nagisa Mizuno was born in Aichi, Japan. Her artistic practice explores relationships and forms of care between people, and between people and the land, through the acts of eating and touching. She studied International Development as an undergraduate before beginning her career as a Japanese government official, where she worked on international security negotiations. Through this experience, she came to realize that the foundation of international relations lies in human relationships. After studying abroad in Finland, she completed an MFA in Global Art Practice at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2025. Her current research investigates how the memories of the land and the traces of human activity become embedded in glass, using the colour variations of glass produced from rice husks as a point of inquiry.

After studying Sculpture at Chelsea College of Art and Design, University of the Arts London, she began working in performance art in 2010 as a member of Parlour Collective. Her activities include participation in the Nakanojo Biennale 2011 and the Koganecho Artist-in-Residence Program, as well as collaborative performance events with Helen Eriksen. She also works as an art coordinator, supporting and coordinating projects by Japanese and international artists.

Ilda Kim

Based on fieldwork and scientific research, he creates works focusing on food, land, ecosystems, and the relationship between humans and nature. Moving across a wide range of media—including video, installation, performance, and sound—he continues a practice that translates memories embedded in the land and material cycles into embodied experiences. After more than ten years of activity in Germany, he relocated his base to Okinawa in 2017. Since then, he has participated in various projects across Asia, including Taiwan, South Korea, and Indonesia. Through his original fieldwork, he engages in an artistic practice that integrates anthropological perspectives. Drawing on knowledge cultivated in the fields of pharmacy and science, he explores an interdisciplinary approach within contemporary art.

Laura Peh founded Cinnamon Art Publishing in 2020, a children's book publisher specialising in new perspectives such as social issues, culture and sustainability. Alongside publishing, Laura is committed to growing the children's book industry in Singapore and is a founding member of the Singapore chapter of the International Board of Books for Young People (IBBY). Under Cinnamon Art Publishing, original titles have been translated into 6 languages, and included in prestigious booklists including the BRAW Amazing Bookshelf (Bologna), White Ravens Catalogue (Munich), Red Fox List: Best Children's Books (Greece) and IBBY Singapore Durians of the Year: Outstanding Picture Books from Singapore.

Piengrawee Sirisook was born in Chiang rai where she becomes keen on traditional Northern Thai and also contemporary dance.
After earning B.A. in Mass Communication, major in Dramatic Communication, Chiang Mai University, she received the Darmasiswa scholarship which gain more spirituality traditional Indonesian dance training at Institut Seni Budaya Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia during 2018 -2019.
Currently based in Chiang Mai, Piengrawee is a co-founder of SIRISOOK Dance Theatre and serves as the artistic director of ALaLa Dance Fest. She founded ALaLa in 2024 to create a contemporary platform for artists who work with ethnic dance vocabularies in theatrical forms.
Her artistic vision often revolves around socially engaged themes such as mental health, gender equality, environmental consciousness, and cultural identity, using dance as a tool for provocation, empathy, and dialogue.

Born in 1980 in Nagano, Japan, and raised in Tokyo, he completed an MFA in Oil Painting at the Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, in 2007. Since 2010, he has organized the annual Shinano Primitive Sense Art Festival each summer. He is the founder and Executive Director of the NPO Primitive Sense Company.
In 2019, he conducted an eight-month research project on the Indigenous peoples of Taiwan through a fellowship from the Asian Cultural Council (ACC). In 2022, as an Overseas Research Fellow of the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan, he spent one year researching Indigenous cultures in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Since 2023, he has served as Director of the Nishimaru Shinya Memorial Museum. With support from the Ogasawara Toshiaki Memorial Foundation, he conducted research on Indigenous peoples in Canada and Taiwan. In 2024, he participated in the Artist-in-Residence program at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. In 2025, he participated in Joy of Weaving–REpair (Munich, Germany), and in 2026, in the Taoyuan Land Art Festival (Taiwan).

Theerapat Wongpaisarnkit, aka Beam Wong, is a Bangkok-based artist. His works spanned various types of media, including film, music, installation, and DJ.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and political movement in Thailand triggered his interest in the idea of ‘country’ not only geographical but also sociopolitical, spiritual and collective history.
Since then, he aims to explore and experiment with the relation between country and individual narrative. Beam works full-time as a video editor for advertisements, is also a co-host of ‘Arttrovert’, a podcast discussing art, and is an advisor teacher for film students at Silpakorn University.

Photo by Manami Uetake

Born in Texas in 1993, and raised in Aomori, Japan, Kyle Yamada is a theater-maker, dramaturg, and translator. Kyle focuses on the temporary nature of theater as a medium, creating works that aim to deconstruct supposedly permanent social systems, while moving across the boundaries of performative disciplines. Past works include 1(忘)LDK, a set of instructions for generating a solo performance, Fahrenheit Alliance, an art project where audiences memorize a book of their choice, and A CALL TO BEAR ARMS, a research project on bear attacks. He collaborates extensively with dance artists, including Jeunesse White and Reina Kimura. Since 2026, Kyle is a participant of SPAC's BIOTOPE-Camp for Playwrights / Theatre-makers program.