Persephone Michou

Persephone Michou is a visual artist and cultural worker based in Athens, Greece. She studied Photography and Audiovisual Arts at the University of West Attica and the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest, Hungary. Her thesis project, The Perfect Blue, which explores the relationship between memory and photography, was showcased at the Athens Photo Festival in 2020 and has since been featured in various publications and exhibitions. In 2022, Michou earned a master’s degree in Arts, Policy & Cultural Entrepreneurship from the University of Groningen, Netherlands. Her debut photobook, If I Forget You, I Will Love You Again, published in collaboration with Zoetrope Athens, won the Best Book Award for books published in South-East Europe at the Maribor Photobook Award 2023 in Slovenia. She was a Stavros Niarchos Foundation 12-month Intern with the International Program at the Museum of Modern Art from 2023 to 2024.

Contributions

East Asia | Art and Gender

The Empathetic Gaze: Toyoko Tokiwa’s Dangerous Poisonous Flowers and the Female Photographic Subject in Postwar Japan

Toyoko Tokiwa (1928–2019) was born in Yokohama and grew up during the devastating years of war and occupation. Tokiwa’s Dangerous Poisonous Flowers deepens our understanding of the empathetic approach and exemplifies how the photobook served as its platform while also being a more democratic form of photographic expression. Unlike exhibitions, which are confined to specific spaces and audiences, the photobook allowed for broader circulation and accessibility, reaching viewers from diverse backgrounds.