Monday, July 13, 2020

“How We See: Photobooks by Women” by 10 x 10 photobook

Just as Kipling says in his poetry, The Ballad of East and West (1889), ”Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” I believe that there is a huge gap and difference between East and West.  Even though we live in an interconnected digital society, I don't agree that we share a true sense of the same perspective, understanding and appreciation of anything in art and photography. However, it is indispensable that I as a Japanese writer, publisher and book consultant based in New York, continue my tireless and consistent effort to make our art/photography accessible to people in the US and Europe.  Placing Asian photography into their logical systems (western art history or philosophy), I can present ideas to help bridge the east/west gap between the work and the audience.  This is the only way for us to finally start a meaningful discussion leading to a mutual understanding of the art. I am grateful that I have the opportunity to introduce 10 Asian photographers through this publication.

One of the most challenging parts of being women in Asia is that our social and personal behaviors are highly anticipated and controlled by society. It can apply similarly to women in the US or Europe, but our sense of being independent is not considered to be the most important philosophy or ethics carried on in our daily lives at all.  Therefore, we are still likely to attentively position ourselves in relation to the people around us, and we end up behaving for the favor of the others in a given situation. In spite of the difficulties and obstacles to find and express our true voices in such circumstances, these 10 photographers exhibit their abundant creative talents and express their own unique world views through their photographic work. 


 SELECTED BOOK DESCRIPTION/REVIEW

1. Michiyo Inoue, Kogakure No Koewo Hirou (Whisper of Shadows), Atelier Me, Tokyo 2017

Inoue only started taking pictures in her 50s, after her children left home and her parents passed away.  She completed her formal education at Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2012.  Whisper of Shadows is her first monograph, and it was published in association with her first solo exhibition in Nikon Salon in Ginza and Osaka in 2017.   Inoue questions the views of life and death by showing the ordinary scenery that we might miss paying close attention to.  Carefully sequenced and edited, Whisper of Shadows introduces the idea that death and life are fused together and they shine vividly through our passing moments in life.

2. Masumi Kura, Men are Beautiful, Urgent Press, Tokyo, 2016

When Kura originally conceived Men are Beautiful and started taking a photos in Paris, New York, Seoul and Mexico City from 2012 to 2016, she was obviously aware of Garry Winograndís Women are Beautiful (NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1975).  In Winograndís work we can clearly see a persistent and ardent quest for his favorite type of young, white and good looking female figures.  On the other hand, Kuraís preference for the other gender varies. mixing old and young.  We don't find an aggressive demeanor in her photography, she appears to be a passenger or distant observer.  Instead of getting Winogrand's sharpness and perfect composition, Kuraís work is loosely composed in a natural setting and appears subjective.  It makes me wonder if the female preference for a male partner is based more on his internal strength rather than his outer beauty?  Or does Kura want to question us about our norm of beauty discovered in every type of men?  This is her forth publication after 3 books from Sokusya, Tokyo and it successfully gives the viewers many questions about female gazes.

3. Tomoko Kikuchi, I and I, LíArtiere Edizioni, Bologna, 2015

Kikuchi took a unique path compared to many other female photographers in Japan.  Upon her graduation from the Musashino Art University in 1996, she moved to Hong Kong.  Since 1999, she has lived and worked in Beijing on assignment from major western media including Newsweek, New York Times, Stern, Vu and Der Spiegel, as well as taking still photography for the movies directed by Christopher Doyle and Peter Ho-sun Chan.  Her association with the two film directors has further shaped her intense and rich color palette, and provided sharp and timelessly perfect composition to her photography.  Ever since Kikuchi met a drag queen, Meimei in 2005 on New Yearís Eve in Beijing, Kikuchi has persistently documented the public and private lives of the queens.  Her work not only documents the conflicts between their sexuality and a society where drastic changes in every aspect of their life have been brutally imposed by China's recent economic growth, but also shows her searching for her own identity as a photographer and human being.

4. Eriko Masaoka, In the Flap of a Birdís Wing, Water Dries Up, Higashikawa International Photo Festival, Hokkaido, 2016

Currently living and working in Munich, Germany, Masaoka had worked on In the Flap of a Birdís Wing, Water Dries Up for 10 years after her graduation from the Visual Arts College Osaka in 2005.  Masaokaís work was first recognized by Miyako Ishiuchi at the 27th Hitotsubo-ten, Tokyo in 2006.  It is characterized by the powerful impact of black and white photos of people, sky, animals, and landscape.  Masaoka explains that our life is just like raindrops from the sky.  We are temporarily here on the earth, and we come across people and landscapes in our short lives, but just like rain hitting the ground, in a relative instant we are all gone.  Masaoka is always drawn to places where people live at the edge of society.  This publication is a catalogue made for her award at the portfolio review of Higashikawa International Photo Festival, 2016. It includes many shots from Nibutani in Hokkaido where Ainu people and hippies chose to live for a hidden paradise.

5. Pixy Liao, Experimental Relationship, self-published , New York, 2017

Challenging a traditional sense of female role in her Chinese background, Liao has been creating an ongoing photography series with her partner, Moro, since 2007.  Moro is younger and wants to be a musician, and he is not supportive as Liao originally wished for her ideal mate, but they have bonded together as partners for over 10 years.  Liao's humorously staged photos look light and funny as lovely couple pictures from the first glance.  But it appears to be that Liao raises deeper and more serious question of love and hate relationships between her Japanese partner and Chinese born Liao.  Can it be political satire??  A Chinese publisher, Jiazazhi is currently working on her book and it will be published in spring 2018.  Liao is the one of the most important emerging female photographers who is concerned about alternative possibilities of heterosexual relationships.

6. Lieko Shiga, Blind Date, T&M Projects, Tokyo, 2017 

Among Lieko Shiga's six publications as of 2017, Blind Date achieves the simplest composition, yet is also the deepest investigation into her persistent question about life: how do we exist?  How does light affect our perception?  The title, Blind Love, is not our regular idea for dating somebody you haven't previously met.  It actually suggests that young coupleís suicide attempt by the passenger covering the driver's eye sight from the backseat.  We can easily laugh at young peopleís silly idea of their romantic and naive love.  We can also comfortably associate ourselves with this feeling, since Shiga masterfully captures intense female gazes with a ghostly dark background in a consistent format, and their gaze will sharply penetrate our mind and remind us of the old sweet memories.  Shiga is a photographer who can elevate documentary to her creative world, not relying on any academic discourse but by trusting her strong instinct and imagination.

7. Momo Okabe, Unseen / Tsunami with (with Kohey Kanno), Dashwood Books, New York, 2012

Okabe ís work comes from a deep desire and quest for connecting to the outside world.  Not paying any special attention to a perfect composition or natural day light, her work uses a kaleidoscopic color pallet, goes a bit off center and often appears blurry.  However, those haphazard elements make her work powerful and unforgettable to the viewer.  Okabe ruthlessly breaks our conventional notion of what good or perfect photography should be.  She created Tsunami for her private life with her lovers and circle of friends around the time the earthquake hit Fukushima in March 2011.

8. Yurie Nagashima, 5 Comes After 6, Match and Company, Tokyo, 2014

Nagashima is one of the most important female photographers in Japan after Miyako Ishiuchi, Mao Ishikawa and Tamiko Nishimura.  Different from her earlier self-portrait or family pictures made in the 1990s and early 2000, 5 Comes After 6 marks a fresh start for her photographic career. Nagashimaís eyes become softer with maternal affection, and it feels more internal and introspective.  Separating from her partner and father of her child and raising the child alone, she attains a new horizon of expression.  Through this publication, Nagashima attentively speaks to the viewers about tiny but precious moments in life that we encounter everyday.


9. Fumiko Imano, We Out!, Little Big Man, Los Angles, 2017

We Out! is a self-portrait with her conceived twin sister, and it is comprised of photos from 2002 to 2012, with one shot from her childhood.  Rawness of the image and rough replacement of the figures in the photo make her work less perfect and more naive compared to the similar conceptual work made by Cindy Sherman or Nikky Lee.  However, her work provides the viewers with comfortable familiarity and friendly playfulness.  Noticing that this is her lone act by placing her fantasy twin sister in the image, her playfulness will turn into loneliness.  Despite the negative and dark undertones of her work, it holds a unique charm and it provides the viewers with easiness and softness.  This project can be regarded as anti-self portrait / conceptual work against todayís high polished selfie culture / western notion of ëart historyí.  We Out! can be considered to be Fumiko's propaganda.


10. Maiko Haruki, _etc., Akaaka Art Publishing, Kyoto, 2017

Published in conjunction with her solo exhibition at Taro Nasu Gallery, Tokyo, Sep. 2017., _etc. comprised of 3 bodies of her work, view for a moment (2011), A certain composition of eyes (2014) and vision | noisiv (2017).  First recognized by an architect, Toyou Ito for Roppongi Crossing at Moi Art Museum, Tokyo in 2007, Haruki has been making her conceptional work by paying a close attention to the technical possibilities of camera lenses.  Haruki usually makes her work in the day time, and the black part observed in her work suggests the things that are not affected by light, and it uniquely holds translucent elegance and mysterious tranquility to the white part. Harukiís work is defiantly conceptional, as opposed to the documentary style more popular in the Japanese photo community.  Away from Japanese traditional mythologies or emotional driven straight photography, Haruki pursues her investigation into oneís ability of perception through her work. Haruki is one of the most indispensable female artists in Japan right now.