Miho Natori can recite nursery rhymes in Thai, speak German fluently, converse over coffee in English and is native in Japanese. For this 40-year-old graphic designer, life kaleidoscopes world to world, from Japan, to the orphanage she helped start with her mother in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and to Germany, with which she has a life-long connection.
Germany gave birth to the artistic heritage in the Natori family. Her grandfather, Younosuke, traveled there as a young man in 1931, armed with a Leica camera and the ability to tell stories with one shot. Many credit Younosuke Natori with bringing photojournalism to Japan, starting Nippon Magazine (1934-44) with a group of avant-garde friends and his German partner, journalist Elena Mecklenburg.
Natori was unaware of her grandfather's legacy while growing up; she only knew her own yearnings: "From junior high school, I became interested in graphic art, and I dreamed of creating posters and graphics."