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In this series, I study an old Japanese print,
Ukiyoe, in which there are several beautiful women or angels living in
the Moon Palace on vivid pink clouds and a man leading another men to
the women. In my culture, vivid pink color implies some night business
of sexual attraction. The print compares the Moon palace where sacred
angels live to night and sexual entertainment place, and angels to showgirls
or prostitutes. This is very ironic implication. It reminds me of night
life businesses in Tokyo today and makes me compare it in Edo and Tokyo
eras.
In "Moon Palace Edo: Kakejiku purse", there is an Oiran, High-class
prostitute, who was a living Goddess for men at that time. It surprises
me to know that men selfishly thought Oiran and Goddess were comparable
even though one represents a sexual object and the other represents sacred
pureness. This is very ironic comparison of woman images. In this piece,
I also depict an ordinary male figure of present time as a customer of
the night business, which represents the overlap between the two different
eras of Japan. The beautiful woman, a goddess/high-class prostitute, gives
a man a love poem and seduces into the beautiful palace.
In "Moon Palace Tokyo: Kakejiku purse" there is a beautiful
girl in Tokyo night life business with a sexy dress, red long nails, full
make-up and big hair. She has a cell phone for calling her customers and
gives her business card to her customer, a man from Edo era. She tempts
him into the “moon palace” in Tokyo night life. Shockingly and ironically,
today, a cabaret club hostess is the most desirable job among little girls
in Tokyo.
In these pieces, I express the ironic comparison of Japanese women images
beyond eras as a result of objectification of women. I put several Sanskrit
letters of Moon god as my prayer as a Japanese woman; two of them in the
moon of each pieces and one in the entrance of the Moon palace (you can
see it only when the two pieces are connected). I also make these pieces
as purses, women’s belongings, because I want women to conquer this ironic
situation and the objectification.
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