This work is derived from the image of women in film. In Japanese films, the image of the geisha, a typical symbol of Japanese women, becomes an oriental element seen and gazed upon by men in popular visual culture. This work reflects on such a view.
Dressed in traditional Japanese female attire, I hold a bouquet of roses, symbolizing love, and bang them together, causing petals and leaves to fall. Next, I place a gynecological instrument, a "uterine dilator," in my mouth and keep expanding it. The mouth, used for speech and expression, is metaphorically castrated in its expression when the dilator and forceps are inserted. I then use scissors to tear off stockings and slowly insert them into the vagina, depicting a process of female sexual assault.
The work reveals the true life experience of geishas, symbolizing sensuality and beauty, behind which lies cruelty, violence, and unspeakable pain.
