Open Theme nominee

This series emerges from a quiet dialogue between my son, who lives with ADHD and dyslexia, and myself—a mother shaped by similar sensitivities—through his encounter with a found deer antler.

【His Own Antlers】

My son found a deer antler in the forest—a fragment of life cast aside, a cold, hard bone. Yet, when it rests in his hands, it no longer feels like a dead object. It becomes his own.

He lives in a world that often feels misaligned, where the rules of the forest are thick and impenetrable. To him, this antler is not merely a talisman; it is an armor he has grown to protect his fragile heart.

I watch him from within our shared sensitivity. I see him preparing for the forest he must one day navigate alone—the one we call society. When that time comes, he will leave my side carrying these antlers: the strength, and the quiet thorns, he has claimed as his own.

I pray that the weight of this gift will guide him, turning uncertainty into resilience, and difference into a quiet, enduring dignity.

Hiroko Murayama is a visual artist and photographer based in Japan. Her practice centers on the invisible topographies of the self, motherhood, and the complex inheritance of neurodivergence. Moving beyond traditional documentary, Murayama’s work serves as a psychological archive, tracing the "living difficulties" and sensory sensitivities that define her identity as an artist living with ADHD and ASD traits.

Her notable projects include A Quiet Erosion (Honorable Mention, TIFA 2022) and The Linden Garden. Currently, she is developing His Own Antlers, a collaborative inquiry with her son that explores how sensitivity and memory shape the self across generations. Through restrained imagery, she documents the fragile threshold where the internal psyche meets the external world.

Selected CV

2022 — Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), Honorable Mention
2016 — Solo Exhibition, The Linden Garden, Tokyo
2014 — Publication, My Sewing Box (Watashi no Saihoubako), Mynavi Publishing