以前ロンドン留学時、『The Representation of women in‘kawaii’Culture in Japan』と言うタイトルで日本女性のかわいいもの好きについての論文を書きました。その時、にわかに人気が出て来たMariko Moriも論文内で取り上げたのが彼女を知ったきっかけです。初め『こんなコスプレがアートだぁ〜???』と嫌悪してたんですが、ちゃんと調べて行くうちにすっかりファンになってました(笑) 帰国してからの方が彼女の情報がないので、皆さん何でも良いので彼女について知ってる事など語って下さい♪
I would like to explain about Mariko Mori and the representation of women. Mori is becoming one of the most innovative multimedia artists in the world. Born in Tokyo in 1967, she graduated from a traditional, highly structured girlユs high school there. After high school she studied design at Tokyoユs Bunka Fashion college and worked part-time as a fashion model. She began to wear clothing of her own design, photographed by others. She went to London to study in 1988, first at the Byam Show School of Art and subsequently at the Chelsea College of Art, in 1992. Mori moved to New York City to enter the year-long Independent Study Program at the Whitny Museum of American Art. She currently maintains two studios, one in New York and one in Tokyo.
In her earliest work Mori presented herself in huge photographs as a playful cyborg- half alluring girl, half mechanical doll- cast in roles simultaneously up-to-the-minute and steeped in Japanese cultural history. She used things made of plastic in plastic colours might be influenced by Japanese pop culture. Japanese pop culture consists of cartoons and comics, technologically advanced computer games, rock stars and a specially distinctive ヤcuteユ aspect. Mori often describes this ヤcuteユ in her work, for example ヤBirth of a Starユ.( figure 1) A cyber popster with spiky coloured hair, wearing futuristic plastic adornment, and flying colourful plastic balls. This futuristic cute work recalls Japanese cartoonist Osamu Tezuka, (I have mentioned in the second chapter) who brought both a future vision and Eastern philosophy to the masses with his manga Astro Boy. Her generation in Japan grew up as watching Tezukaユs and many other animations, and surrounded by cute characters such as ヤHello Kittyユ. Moreover, the contemporary Japanese pop culture is now mixed in the informationalized society. Mori might be the child of such a society. Dominic Molon describes about her work that ヤMoriユs work reach across the ages, combining Japanese tradition, Eastern and Western art historical forms and motifs, and more contemporary phenomena like fashion, science fiction, popular culture, and high technology.ユ1 Under the influence of such mixed culture, Mori might choose the way to represent herself to be cute animated character. This is almost same idea with an artist who is Cindy Sherman. Sherman has imitated and confronted assorted representational tropes, exploring the myriad ways in which women and the body are depicted by effective contemporary image-maker, including the mass media and historical sources such as fairy tales, portraiture, and surrealist photography. Sherman stated about her work ヤFairy Tales,1985.(figure 2)
ヤIn horror stories or in fairy tales, the fascination with the morbid is also, at least for me, a way toprepare for the unthinkable.... Thatユs way itユs very imprtant for me to show the artificiality of it all, because the real horrors of the world are unmatchable, and theyユre too profound. Itユs much easier to absorb - to be entertained by it, but also to let it affect you psychologically - if itユs done in a fake, hummorous, artificial way.ユ1
Mori, like Sherman might thought ヤabsorbingユ is the most effective way to represent. Mori also states that ヤwhen you wear clothes you become a personality, you become the clothes.ユ2 Her clothes which cute animated are her personality. Making or wearing such cute animated works under the influence of Japanese pop culture might be natural for Mori. She moreover stated that ヤall kind of fantasies and dreams are very important in our life.ユ3 She might represent her dreams and fantasies in order to be a cute animated character herself in her work. This is a new way of representation. Mori established a way of representation for ヤcuteユ. Many artists tried new representations. Mori commented about Sherman, ヤrepresenting so many different aspect of being a womanユ. Other artists tend to investigate ヤbeautyユ. However, Sherman tried to represent ヤuglinessユ as well. She might show us human beings do not only consist of ヤbeautyユ, but also have many expressions such as anger, sadness, and indecency. We can realise those things through her works, ヤit is a part of me.ユ
Sherman and Mori appear in their work in the postmodern role of the medium through which various social and cultural ideas may be evoked. Many women who are not artists might also have the same ideas as these artists. We can see a many people wearing cute animated clothes in Japan. (figure 1) They might think ヤabsorbingユ is the most effective way to represent themselves. They can also show the scent of the contemporary culture such as Japanimation or cute to absorb with stuffs which they have. This is a reason why many women wear , buy, or collect cute things.Watching animation, and having cute character goods, those things are originally established for children, however, many Japanese women try to change such old idea, and like Mori many women also realise the importance of ヤdreams and fantasiesユ in their everyday life. That is ヤcuteユ. Thus, many Japanese women now do not hesitate to be cute.