Miwa Yanagi
Right now at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston there is an exhibit by Japanese photographer Miwa Yanagi that is absolutely stunning.
These reproductions don't come anywhere near doing the images justice. They are all very large and the colors are so rich and brilliant, aside from the harmony of the visuals and the verses, they are just exciting to look at.
They remind me a bit of post secret with the accompanying phrases and also a bit of girlsarepretty with the strangeness.
Three different projects of hers are being shown: fairy tales, my grandmothers, and elevator girls.
The two pieces here are from My Grandmothers.
She asked her subjects to picture their lives 50 years in the future and created photographs based on what they envisioned.
AI
2004
Malicious gossip spreads behind my back that I'm a fake children's
fortuneteller. My purpose is neither their pocket money nor to waste time.
I wait for just one customer; my successor. I wait wait only for the day she,
who is indifferent to the past and future, passes casually through these nearly
collapsing doors. After I have entrusted everything to her I'll live quietly in
this world empty of hope or regret.
But until then, how many more boring lives must I speak about. How
these children's futures are so dull. Just like their mothers, a
repetitious monotony of dissatisfied every day lives. I can't believe
they come here just to confirm that. Their childlike secrets, erratic hopes,
cheap dreams... I'm fed up by all this. Only five more today and I'll be done.
There is no use to cry, sweetheart.
Geisha
2002
-One must daily devote oneself to accomplishments in art
-One must respect the tastefully refined
-One must never discriminate between chance customers and regular customers
-To entertain a customer, one must treasure every meeting, for it will never recur.
-One must never preach to a customer
-One must decide one's own age on a daily basis
-If one's life is devoted to the pursuit of individual faith, that shall prevent the unworthiness of aging in flamboyance and disgrace
-Ease shall be embraced if ease arrives, as by means of ease one's own health shall be preserved
The aforementioned disciplines must be mutually obeyed and conducted with respect to harmony
These reproductions don't come anywhere near doing the images justice. They are all very large and the colors are so rich and brilliant, aside from the harmony of the visuals and the verses, they are just exciting to look at.
They remind me a bit of post secret with the accompanying phrases and also a bit of girlsarepretty with the strangeness.
Three different projects of hers are being shown: fairy tales, my grandmothers, and elevator girls.
The two pieces here are from My Grandmothers.
She asked her subjects to picture their lives 50 years in the future and created photographs based on what they envisioned.
AI
2004
Malicious gossip spreads behind my back that I'm a fake children's
fortuneteller. My purpose is neither their pocket money nor to waste time.
I wait for just one customer; my successor. I wait wait only for the day she,
who is indifferent to the past and future, passes casually through these nearly
collapsing doors. After I have entrusted everything to her I'll live quietly in
this world empty of hope or regret.
But until then, how many more boring lives must I speak about. How
these children's futures are so dull. Just like their mothers, a
repetitious monotony of dissatisfied every day lives. I can't believe
they come here just to confirm that. Their childlike secrets, erratic hopes,
cheap dreams... I'm fed up by all this. Only five more today and I'll be done.
There is no use to cry, sweetheart.
Geisha
2002
-One must daily devote oneself to accomplishments in art
-One must respect the tastefully refined
-One must never discriminate between chance customers and regular customers
-To entertain a customer, one must treasure every meeting, for it will never recur.
-One must never preach to a customer
-One must decide one's own age on a daily basis
-If one's life is devoted to the pursuit of individual faith, that shall prevent the unworthiness of aging in flamboyance and disgrace
-Ease shall be embraced if ease arrives, as by means of ease one's own health shall be preserved
The aforementioned disciplines must be mutually obeyed and conducted with respect to harmony