A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN - SAKIKO NOMURA & TOKYO RUMANDO
A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN - SAKIKO NOMURA & TOKYO RUMANDO
13.04.2022 - 04.07.2022
OPENING 04/14/2022
From April 13 to June 4, the echo 119 gallery is pleased to present the exhibition A Room of One's Own. The latter is part of the EXPOLAROIDS festival and presents, through the medium of Polaroid, the intersecting perspectives of two contemporary Japanese women photographers: Sakiko Nomura and Tokyo Rumando.
The title of the exhibition is a tribute to the eponymous title of the essay A Room of One's Own published by Virginia Woolf in 1929, (or A Place of One's Own in its most recent translations), which defends the need for a woman artist to have a personal space to be able to develop her imagination and construct her work.
Here, we present the respective bedrooms of Sakiko Nomura and Tokyo Rumando: freeing themselves from the male gaze that launched their photographic careers, each has, in their own way, used this concept of a personal bedroom (physical as well as psychological) to develop their universe.
Sakiko Nomura constructs her images in the shadows. Photographing her models in places as bare as the bodies, intimacy is at the heart of her work. Her images evoke the hushed atmosphere of rooms that we recognize without having visited them, the rustling of sheets, the rustling of a curtain that we open to let a ray of light enter the darkness. She approaches love, sex, relationships and the fragility of beings with modesty and gentleness. Nomura is the only assistant that Araki Nobuyoshi has ever had, and if her work addresses, like him, the themes of eros and thanatos, her gaze is definitely different.
Here, combining Polaroids in a trio, mixing places and moments, Nomura creates short stories that reinvent themselves according to the imagination of the viewer looking at them.
Tokyo Rumando wears many hats: nurse, stripper, model, photographer, performer… She moves from one universe to another with disconcerting ease. The multiplicity of identities is what constitutes the basis of her photographic work.
Posing in front of the lens of photographers such as Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki, Tokyo Rumando began photographing herself in 2005, using self-portraiture as a means of reclaiming her body and image. Playing on disguise, Tokyo Rumando transforms herself by multiplying the personas with each new self-portrait. In doing so, she questions the fantasies of the spectators who find themselves voyeurs of this intimacy, without knowing whether it is real or staged.
For this exhibition, we have chosen a medium that is particularly dear to both photographers: the Polaroid. This small object, which belongs to both the private and professional worlds of photography, is a kind of magic. Due to its physical and unique appearance, it in turn becomes a small window ajar on the world of the two photographers, which only those standing in front of it can access, in the intimacy of this reduced format.
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From April 13 to June 4, Galerie Echo 119 is pleased to present the exhibition Room of One's Own. The latter presents, through the medium of Polaroid, the perspectives of two contemporary Japanese women photographers: Sakiko Nomura and Tokyo Rumando.
The title of the exhibition is a tribute to the eponymous title of the essay A Room of One's Own published by Virginia Woolf in 1929, which defends the need for a female artist to have a personal space to develop her imagination and build her work.
Here, we present the respective rooms of Sakiko Nomura and Tokyo Rumando: emancipating themselves from the male gaze that launched their photographic careers, each has, in her own way, used this concept of the personal room (both physical and spiritual) to develop her world.
Sakiko Nomura builds her images in the shadows. Photographing her models in places as bare as their bodies, the intimate is at the heart of her work. Her images evoke the muffled atmosphere of rooms that we recognize without having visited them, the rustling of sheets, the swish of a curtain that is opened to let in a ray of light. Nomura is the only assistant Araki Nobuyoshi has ever had, and if her work deals, like his, with the themes of eros and thanatos, her vision is definitely different.
Here, combining Polaroids in a trio, mixing places and times, Nomura creates short stories that reinvent themselves through the imagination of the spectator.
Tokyo Rumando wears many hats: nurse, stripper, model, photographer, performer... She moves from one universe to another with disconcerting ease. The multiplicity of identities is the basis of her photographic work.
Posing in front of the lens of photographers such as Daido Moriyama and Nobuyoshi Araki, Tokyo Rumando began photographing herself in 2005, using the self-portrait as a means of reappropriating her body and her image. Playing with disguise, Tokyo Rumando metamorphoses herself by multiplying her personas with each new self-portrait. In doing so, she questions the fantasies of the viewers who find themselves voyeurs of this intimacy, without knowing if it is real or staged.
For this exhibition, we have chosen a medium that is particularly dear to the two photographers: the Polaroid. This small object, which belongs to both the realms of the private and of professional photographers, has a magical quality. Because of its physical and unique aspect, it becomes in turn a small window on the world of the two photographers to which only those who stand in front of it can have access, in the intimacy of this small format.
