Present Encounters : Papers from the conference of the Second Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, 1996

Emiko Namikawa Voices from Japanese Women Artists I n today's artistic circles in Japan, being a woman does not raise any_ problems; rather one often fi nds much creative innovation i n artistic expression from women artists. While expression from male artists is founded upon being in line with the mainstream of art and tends to follow the succession of art history, the expression of women artist tends to show natural flexibility which th rows up many unexpected creative elements. Their i nspiration often comes from ord inary daily life and questions such things: works that reflect upon the role of women; intuitive and narrative works; works that show irony and wit and so on . However, the young generation of artists feel uneasy about being categorised as 'women' artists. Many such artists say ' I 'm just doing my own thing and being a woman is coi ncidental . Why separate men and women? You shou ld regard me as a human being'. In fact, such a th ing is true. Essentially, one judges the work not by the gender of the artist but through its contents. However, when one looks at the underlying female aspect within the contents, its h idden essence wi ll be revealed . There has not been an art exhibition devoted to the history and theory of women's art i n Japan. Fo r Westerners, who are used t o judging a l l things through black/white choice and from a monotheistic viewpoint, the ambiguity of the Japanese may appear to be u ncanny or inscrutable. The Japanese approach is that there are mill ions of gods and all things contai n such spirit. Because o f this, t he Japanese unconsciously tend t o reject any logical approach . I n Japan there is a saying that one's thoughts are not communicated by words but through the heart; this is to understand or judge a set of circumstances or ambiance through people's attitudes and expressions and not by words. Therefore, there has been hardly any femin ist movement in Japan supported though logical theory, although in the late 1 960s, the influence of Women's Li b. in the United States had great impact upon Japanese women . The contemporary Japanese women artists I have selected today were born around the late 1 960s; a generation who did not experience the feminist movements of those times , and these are the artists who are contributing so many i nteresting works to the Japanese contemporary art scene. I would like to discuss these artists through th ree major themes with the help of some slides. 1 . Physical Expression Yoshi ko Kanai In my Life is a work that symbolises the unconscious sexuality of the female based upon her inner feelings. There's a bust of the artist on top of each box. Within each box is a chair, an object woven from feathers, a suspended knife and some fur. Upon a transparent acrylic pane these words are impressed : 'Wait', 'Wish', 'Fright', 'Want & Hate'. I n genera l , most women have such feelings as part of their inner emotions. Moira is a work based on a Greek myth about three sisters but in fact it tells a story about the artist's sisters. Harumi Yonekawa It's on Me is a work in which the artist's nude photograph is enlarged to cover the floor. Placed upon this photograph are three white bath tubs with soil in each tub, withi n whi ch are half-buried dolls made by the artist. The face of each doll represents the grandmother, mother and the artist. The work tells of the genetic connection between these three generations, and the adjacent space also contai ns soil. Thus implying the cycle of life wh ich always returns to earth. l kuko Yamada A marble mask is placed upon a fake fur lying on the floor. On the wall beh i nd is a work entitled See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Say no Evil. The original title in Japanese was a pun on the word for monkeys that equalled the same ideas. But i n this case , instead of monkeys, the artist uses human faces with false hair and 'See no Evi l' is wearing sun glasses, 'Hear no Evil' is using a Walkman and 'Say no Evil' is wearing a white cotton mouth mask. In this manner, a person may feel comfortable as long as they remain ignorant of bad news or inconvenient things. 1 1 5