Masks by Yoshikazu Yamagata of writtenafterwards photographed by Hedi Slimane for Dazed & Confused Japan.

The act of carving a traditional noh mask is referred to as “omote wo utsu” (to strike the surface). The sacred and supremely refined art of noh – which is said to be the world’s oldest form of theatre and to have remained unchanged for over six centuries – has at its heart the notion of masks and illusion; and the impulse towards complete body transformation is carried through to many areas of performance and life in contemporary Japan.

With choreography by Yuka Kobayashi and costumes by Taisuke Abe, She de cusu oh chee! is another Japanese performance troupe based on disguise and escapist alter egos – watch out for their super kawaii public interventions which can happen anywhere at any time …

“Everything is under surveillance of KATHY. Orders are constantly issued by KATHY. And the 3 are due to get their duties done.”

So their bio makes it hard to figure out exactly what is going on here but when you see their live shows you’ll understand. Actually, wait, their shows are even more obscure and bamboozling … But that’s ok because they are also mind blowingly amazing.

Classically trained as ballerinas, the unnamed dancers of KATHY collaborated extensively with the legendary Nagi Noda and share her love of strange cuteness, surrealist-pop, and hair. Always clad in identical blond wigs with black pantyhosed faces, they render themselves completely featureless (and fingerless) because anonymity is the ideal point of surveillance. Their eerie and ritualistic performances are like nothing else; think Moulin Rouge meets Victorian morality meets Lucifer rising.

And … they are one of our first confirmed guests for the Big In Japan event that is taking place this December at CarriageWorks. We are very excited to be announcing that KATHY will be on our program, along with the Trippple Nippples and others to be announced very soon. It’s shaping up to be a very special night of Japanese performance artists, experimental musicians, DJs and visual artists who have never been brought out to Australia before.

KATHY, you might be watching us but we’re watching you back, we can’t take our eyes off you. The girls are cooking up some big surprises for the event but for the time being lets just say I bags not cleaning up all the pigeon shit. Stay tuned.

First image by honagayoko, last image by Yumiko Inoue (D-CORD)

“To be there where I think I am not, to disappear where I think I am, that is what matters.”

Like her fellow Japanese self-costuming photographic artists Yasumasa Morimura and Tomoko Sawada,  Kimiko Yoshida’s work shows that art is about transformation and photography, in particular, is a medium of performance. Because her bodily decoration and physiognomy are so motley and elastic she would be beyond recognition in her hundreds of self-portraits, were it not for their uniformly square, front-angle head-and-shoulders format. But then, ‘self-portrait’ isn’t really the right term; these are not images of herself but of costumes; fantasy selves have swallowed her up completely.

From noh and kabuki theatre to the modern cosplay phenomena, masks and bodily disguise have long held a special place in Japanese culture. They provide anonymity, a dividing barrier, liberation from earthly ties and a means to overcome fear – fear of the unknown and fear of death – by making the wearer the thing feared. According to the artist, her work exists as a feminist stance “against contemporary cliches of seduction, against voluntary servitude of women, against ‘identity’ defined by appurtenances and ‘communities’, against the stereotypes of ‘gender’ and the determinism of heredity.”

“But you are still thinking in terms of a life with a real face. The mask does not deceive and is not deceived. How about putting on a new mask, turning over a new leaf, and starting another life?”

(Kobo Abe, The Face of Another)

A look back at a look book from 2006, marking the first collection from Fugahum; a fashion label which frequently crosses over into the realms of  visual art and  instillation.

After 6 years as a designer with Yohji Yamamoto, Asuka Yamamoto formed Fugahum with Akiyoshi Mishima, an artist, art director, graphic designer, film director and VJ. Their work together is based on the notion of a fictional nation named ‘Fugahum’, and their aesthetic nestles somehwere at the boarders of street and fantasy; gothic and futuristic; macarbe and beautiful. An interview with Mishima (whose paintings feature here) about his work and the Fugahum nation can be found here.