Miwa Yanagi earned a Master of Fine Arts in Crafts from the Graduate School of Kyoto City University of Arts in 1991. She was first recognised for her Elevator Girl series, made up of computer composite photographs created from 1994 to 1999. They originated with her solo show in 1993, where she exhibited two models dressed as elevator operators. Elevator Girl depicts young women in a unique yet popular elevator costume that can still be seen in Japanese department stores. While these images show emotionless faces and doll-like postures in unrealistic computer-generated places, they are based on actual sites. Using cutting-edge technologies of the time, the work ironically points out a Japanese society at an impasse, with its rapid economic growth, repetitive production system, and glamourous female staff in commercial centres which contrasts sharply with the predominantly male workforce at industrial sites. Each of these women resembles a robot but seen collectively, they point to society’s potential to break away from a model in which male-dominated labour leads to economic growth.

Beginning with Elevator Girl, M. Yanagi began to explore the theme of women’s gendered role in Japanese society, a focus that continued to develop throughout her artistic practice. In 2000, she began widening its scope with My Grandmother which deals with ageism. This series began with interviews of girls and young women aged between 14 and 20. M. Yanagi asked them to imagine what they would be, or what they dream of being, in 50 years. Based on these conversations, M. Yanagi generated images depicting the older versions of these women and girls. The photographs are juxtaposed with imagined statements from these older figures, each challenging the Japanese norm that values youth over age, especially for women. Instead, they showcase different ways of living and the strength that comes with aging.

The Fairy Tale (2004–2006) series shows girls in scenes taken from fables and narratives handed down through generations, such as Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White and The Little Match Girl. These grey-toned works portray slightly scary scenes set in abandoned places. Like My Grandmother, girls wearing masks of old and young women appear playing both roles, thereby turning fantasy images of female figures in fables on their heads.

During her solo shows Miwa Yanagi: My Grandmother at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and Miwa Yanagi: Po-Po Nyang Nyang! at the National Museum of Art, Osaka in 2009, M. Yanagi was selected to represent Japan at the 53rd Venice Biennale. For this event, she created a new installation titled Windswept Women (2009), featuring five large-scale photographs and a video. The images portray women, young and old, posed as powerful figures in the wilderness. The video, showcasing wild, goddess-like women, was installed in a black tent within the Japan Pavilion, which itself was situated inside a larger black tent.

This series led M. Yanagi to start theatrical projects performed in various settings, including theatres, art museums and outdoor settings. One notable project, The Wings of the Sun (2016), utilized a decorated trailer as its main stage. This concept, first shown during the 2014 Yokohama Triennale, was further developed and showcased in Taiwan. The outdoor performance, inspired by a novel by Kenji Nakagami, featured not only actors but also tap dancers, pole dancers and circus performers.

The play follows seven old women who were forced to leave their familiar “alleyway” and journey with young men from the same community – referred to by K. Nakagami as the buraku outcast community in Shingu, his birthplace. The characters dramatically embody their traditional gender roles during exuberant parties held at various stops during their journey. The play blends local faith, community and Japanese traditions rooted in ancient fables, creating a powerful mix of humour, sorrow, and eroticism through the combination of different performing arts.

Yanagi won the 30th Kyoto Arts and Culture Prize in 2017 and the Distinguished Service Prize at the 33rd Kyoto Prefecture Cultural Award in 2016.