Lot 21: MIWA YANAGI (JAPANESE B. 1967)

Elevator Girl House B1
cibachrome print mounted on plexiglass, 1997-1998, signed,in felt tipped pen dated and numbered 2/5 (on the reverse)
100 x 400 cm

Galerie Kodama, Osaka, Japan
Acquired from the above by the present owner 1 January 1999

"Mako Wakasa: You seem to study and understand Japanese women very well. In your Elevator Girl series you depict women in uniform who operate elevators in Japanese department stores...
It seems that Elevator Girls is a takes on the phenomenon of young Japanese women dressing in the same style. Among young and even middle-aged women, following one fashion style is one of the most obvious characteristics of Japanese women today. It may only be a matter of appearance, but what do you think?

Miwa Yanagi: The Elevator Girl series was about myself as well as other Japanese women. When I started the series, I was working as a teacher after graduating from university. Back then, I strongly felt that I was just playing a role in a standardized society, having a particular occupation in a particular setting. I did not work as an elevator girl literally, but the idea resonated in me in a symbolic way.

Wakasa: Which way was that?

Yanagi: It represented myself and my circumstances. A young woman who operates an elevator works in a narrow, box-like space, which elevator girls call "the basket." They have to repeat the same gesture over and over all day. I felt that the Elevator Girl series was very cynical in the beginning when I started it as a performance, not as photography. I had a woman sit still in the same posture smiling in a narrow space wearing an elevator girl's uniform. I also had women keep sitting or smiling in a real-size elevator hall which I created." (The artist speaking with Mako Wakasa, 19 August 2001, Yanagi Studio, Kyoto, http://www.jca-online.com/yanagi.html)

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