After obtaining a B.A. in Literature in Japan, Misao Iwamoto moved to Belgium where she studied visual arts and graphic design. She is a graphic designer, a drawing tutor, but primarily an illustrator. 

Iwamoto mainly uses graphite pencils to achieve her extremely delicate visual storytelling. The inspiration for her portraits and landscapes often lies in books, movies, photography, philosophy and true tales of ordinary people. The 17th century Dutch still lifes, Taneda Santoka’s free verse haikus, Léon Spilliaert, Edward Hopper, John Cassavetes’ movies and Erwin Olaf have influenced her greatly for their narrative approach.

Iwamoto lives and works from her studio in Flanders, Belgium.

I capture those narratives in my drawing to look them closer for a little while, as eventually they all will be lost. Stories come and go. People die. That fact makes me see some uncertainty, helplessness or powerlessness in all those accounts and that is the mood I create in my work. It is not grief that I represent but acceptance and embrace of our fragility.”

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