Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1960, Chihiro Minato is a photographer and visual anthropologist. While studying at Waseda University, he travelled in South America, keeping a photographic record of his travels. Then, after graduating from college, he based himself for some time in Paris, where he was active as a photographer. While covering the revolutionary changes occurring in Eastern Europe in 1989, he began thinking about the relationship between crowds and the image, and developed a unique new style combining photographs and text. After that point he continued to produce and exhibit works both in Japan and abroad, focusing on themes such as the emergence of art, memory, and omens. He has taught at Tama Art University since 1995, and is currently Professor of Information Design. In 2006 he won the Ina Nobuo prize with his work, Shimin no Iro (The Color of the Citizens). He has published numerous books, including Memory: Imagination and the Power of Recall (Kodansha, Suntory Prize for the Social Sciences), Into the Cave: Image and Archaeology (Serika Shobo). In 2016 he was the artistic director for the Aichi Triennial.