Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Haruka Sakaguchi (b. 1990, Osaka, Japan) is a freelance photographer based in New York City. Her work explores themes of cultural memory and intergenerational trauma, often tracing overlooked histories through intimate portraiture and long-form documentary practice.
Her projects have taken her around the world—from documenting atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to photographing former incarcerees and descendants of America’s WWII concentration camps, to creating satirical portraits of Hollywood actors typecast in stereotypical roles. In recent years, she directed Loyal American, a short film produced in partnership with the National Geographic Society, expanding her storytelling into moving image.
Haruka’s clients and collaborators include National Geographic, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Washington Post, among many others. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally, including at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Osservatorio Fondazione Prada in Milan, and Photoville in New York and Los Angeles. She is the recipient of the 2025 CENTER Socially Engaged Award, a 2023 National Geographic Storytelling Grant, a 2021 Duke Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award, and the 2020 Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Award for Photo Essay. She was also recognized by Pictures of the Year International (POY) as a finalist in 2021.
Through her documentary practice, Haruka seeks to honor lived experience while fostering dialogue about the legacies we carry forward.
Haruka Sakaguchi (b. 1990, Osaka, Japan) is a freelance photographer based in New York City. Her work explores themes of cultural memory and intergenerational trauma, often tracing overlooked histories through intimate portraiture and long-form documentary practice.
Her projects have taken her around the world—from documenting atomic bomb survivors in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to photographing former incarcerees and descendants of America’s WWII concentration camps, to creating satirical portraits of Hollywood actors typecast in stereotypical roles. In recent years, she directed Loyal American, a short film produced in partnership with the National Geographic Society, expanding her storytelling into moving image.
Haruka’s clients and collaborators include National Geographic, The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The New Yorker, Smithsonian Magazine, and The Washington Post, among many others. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally, including at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Osservatorio Fondazione Prada in Milan, and Photoville in New York and Los Angeles. She is the recipient of the 2025 CENTER Socially Engaged Award, a 2023 National Geographic Storytelling Grant, a 2021 Duke Archive of Documentary Arts Collection Award, and the 2020 Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Award for Photo Essay. She was also recognized by Pictures of the Year International (POY) as a finalist in 2021.
Through her documentary practice, Haruka seeks to honor lived experience while fostering dialogue about the legacies we carry forward.
