Getty Museum

OMIAI♡

Date

2001

Medium

Chromogenic print

Culture

Japanese

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

Object ID

92ad0b00-b4c1-4eb6-b3f5-5df972e5eeaf

For this series, the artist transformed herself - through the aid of costumes, wigs, make-up, and weight gain - into thirty different characters. These portraits mimic photographs traditionally produced as part of the Japanese custom of omiai, or the first meeting of couples whose marriages are being arranged, during which families exchange photographs of their children in the hope of finding a suitable husband or wife for them. This unique set of OMIAI includes vintage frames selected by the artist to represent how such portraits would traditionally be displayed in the windows of local photo studios. In this photograph, the artist is sitting on a bench, wearing a lavender kimono with pink and white flowers, and a gold and pink obi. Her dark straight hair grazes her shoulders.

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