Japanese artist Mami Kiyoshi has spent 15 years creating vivid portraits of people surrounded by their belongings – from wine bottles and violins to the odd stray pet. Mami Kiyoshi’s ongoing series “New Reading Portraits” is, in part, a nod to the mise-en-scène found in traditional woodcut printing. Here: Miyako Kumagai, date unknown. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





Japanese-born, Paris-based Kiyoshi has been taking these florid portraits of people surrounded by their possessions since 2003. Here: Mei-Mei and Shao Yu Dali, China, 2012. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





“I am interested in history”, says Kiyoshi, “and how it is always told by someone. Sometimes it’s a myth, sometimes an anecdote”. Here: Kumi, Paris, 2016. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





Jean-Marie, Paris, 2011. Jean-Marie is a writer specialising in the history of rock music. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





Kiyoshi finds her subjects through ads placed on posters and online. She chats to them about their lives, their passions and their homes before taking their portrait. Here: Kana and Edouard, Paris, 2012. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





Sakura and Kazuhiro, Tokyo, 2015. Kazuhiro is a tattoo artist and Sakura is a photographer. They love cooking, live with their dog and two cats and each have the date of their wedding tattooed to their ring fingers. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





“I try to make my models look like Buddhas, primitive gods or heroes”, says Kiyoshi. Here: Luna, Ophélie and André Mons, Belgium, 2015. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





Kiyoshi creates highly staged compositions of the models in their homes or workplaces. Here: Nancy, Frédéric, Neuilly-Plaisance, France, 2015. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)





Kiyoshi arranges her models’ belongings around them in creative ways, underscoring the fictional ways people frame their lives. Here; Toshihiro Nakanishi, Tokyo, 2015. (Photo by Mami Kiyoshi/Galerie Annie Gabrielli/The Guardian)