CHLOE JAFE

Chloé Jafé is one of the few people who has not only managed to infiltrate the Yakuza, the Japanese mafia, she even obtains permission to photograph the private parts of their women on a daily basis.

She is a French photographer, born in Lyon in 1984. A graduate of the Condé school in Lyon, Chloé Jafé continued her photography training at the Pin-up studio in Paris, then at the Central Saint-Martins of Art school in London. An experience that allowed her to develop over the years a voice that was both visual and documentary, and very personal. After working at the Magnum Photos office in London in 2013, she moved to Tokyo the following year. It was there that she met a Yakuza leader who allowed her to photograph his daily life for six years. This meeting was by far a coincidence, it was in fact her project from the beginning – to discover more about these women, who had to cultivate a resilience and a particularly distinct personality. She is the only person who has been able to get close to them, often overshadowed by men to whom they devote themselves entirely, but who are so influential within the Yakuza organization.

In her images, Chloé gives a prominent place to gestures and often tattooed bodies, whose motifs she sometimes extends outside the frame of the image. Her work on these Japanese women was rewarded in 2017 upon her return to France by the Bourse du Talent and exhibited at the Bibliothèque nationale de France . Her seven years of immersion in Japan gave rise to many other images, in black and white, highlighting the little-known and subversive aspects of Japanese society. She offers a striking vision of a complex and enigmatic country, beyond preconceived ideas. These images can be found in a trilogy composed of the chapters “I give you my life” (2020), “Okinawa mon amour” (2020) and “How I met your Jiro” (2022).

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Chloé Jafé is one of the few people who has not only managed to infiltrate the yakuza, the Japanese mafia, but has even obtained permission to photograph the intimacy of their women on a daily basis.

She is a French photographer, born in Lyon in 1984. After graduating from the Ecole de Condé in Lyon, Chloé Jafé continued her training as a photographer at the Pin-up studio in Paris, then at Central Saint-Martins College of Art in London . After working in the London office of Magnum Photos in 2013, she moved to Tokyo the following year. That is where she met a yakuza boss who allowed her to photograph his daily life for six years. They did not meet by chance, it was Chloé's plan all along - to find out more about these very particular women. And she is the only person who has been able to get close to these women, kept in the shadows of men to whom they devote themselves entirely.

Gestures and often tattooed bodies are central in Chloé's pictures, and she sometimes goes beyond the frame of the image to enhance her point. When she returned to France in 2017, her work on these Japanese women was awarded the Bourse du Talent and exhibited at the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Her seven years of immersion in Japan have given many other images, in black and white, highlighting the little-known and subversive aspects of Japanese society. She offers a striking vision of a complex and enigmatic country that goes beyond preconceived ideas. These images can be found in a trilogy composed of the chapters 'I give you my life' (2020), 'Okinawa mon amour' (2020) and 'How I met your Jiro' (2022).