Fumi Hirai is a Japanese artist, entirely inspired by the African bush, who strives to capture beauty, simplicity, and delicate details in her nature photographs of animals. Fumi was born and raised in Japan. From a young age, her mother, a calligraphy teacher, exposed her to exhibitions and galleries, which influenced Fumi’s love of photography. Going on safari in Africa was a dream she had since childhood. While a student in her twenties, she went to Southern Africa with her first SLR camera. Since then, she has used every opportunity to return to Africa to capture its wildlife in pictures. In Tokyo, Hirai spent many hours in the darkroom developing photos, mainly street photography and travel photos from Africa and South East Asia. Her wildlife prints have received recognition in Japan, and now after moving to Cape Town, her passion for photography expanded from wildlife to include landscape and seascape photography. Proceeds of sales in this collection will be donated by the artist to the Love4Lee fund.