In her self portraits the Japanese artist Tomoko Sawada poses herself with self-confidence and irony. The 26 year-old slips into a variety of roles in the tradition of Cindy Sherman. Thus in her photo series, "Omiai" she has herself photographed for a marriage bureau in Tokyo. According to Japanese tradition eligible young women are sent by their families for a session in a photo studio. The "model photos" are then distributed in the hope of a good match. Sawada does not pose as Sawada or at least not quite. She takes on the roles of thirty different women, here in a traditional kimono, there in a business suit reminiscent of her passport photo series "ID 400". While passport photographs usually identify people, Sawada uses the automatic photo booth in order to conceal her identity. Acting out, she disguises herself fully 400 times in order to settle accounts with current clichés and depictions of women.

Curator Andreas Kristof