Kimiko Yoshida: " Painting. Self-portrait "

Since she fled her homeland to escape the mortifying servitude and humiliating fate of Japanese women, Kimiko Yoshida - through what is called "self-portraits"- has refined and amplified a feminist stance of protest, cultivated and distanced from "current affairs": against contemporary cliches of seduction, voluntary servitude of women, stereotypes of "gender" and biological determinism of heredity.

Kimiko Yoshida's quasi-monochrome self-portraits are well known and well acknowledged. These large, square, subtly lit monochromic photographs constitute her signature works since 2001.
Her new series of photographs, majestic and indecipherable portraits conceived with the history of art in mind, is entitled Painting. Self-portrait. This symbolic transposition of the chefs-d'oeuvre of the old masters into large archival prints on canvas is based essentially on the diversion of haute couture garments and accessories designed by Paco Rabanne.


Born in Tokyo (1963), Kimiko Yoshida lives in Europe since 1995.

" To be there where I think I am not, to disappear where I think i am, That is what matters."

~~Kimiko Yoshida

Courtesy Kimiko Yoshida / Jean-Michel Ribettes

Painting. Self-portrait is currently on exhibit at Ruarts Gallery, Moscow

April 4- May 21, 2011
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