Vertical Memory (1997)
Vertical Memory, 1997 (detail)
Set of 21 Iris prints with text plaques
Each 12 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches (31.7 x 49.5 cm)
Apr18-May31 2008, Tue-Sat 10am-6pm
Vertical Memory is one group of a series of Conceptual Photographs.
It's entering a dialogue with photography as a media.
Vertical Memory consists of 21 identical portraits with 21 different texts either all in English or all in Japanese.
It was created putting together photographs of my father, my husband, and my son. I selected photographs of them facing the same direction, overlapped them and morphed them.
From the moment I was born to the moment I will pass away, men have always been present in my life.
Every photo represents the man who was looking over me at a precise moment when I went through an important situation of my life.
And how much of my life I have spent, taken, lying down.
Vertical Memory
1997
Doctor I
I remember being born and looking into his eyes. He picked me up and slapped my bottom I screamed.
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Father
I was two-and-a-half when I arrived in San Francisco on a liner to meet him for the first time. He came on board, kissed my mother, and then looked at me looking up at him.
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Stranger
My mother was late in coming home to the hotel we had been staying at. I went in front of the elevator and waited for her. A man who came out of the elevator told me that I should not be standing there and he would help me find my mother. I remember him being very kind, but my mother got very upset about it all.
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Teacher
In our elementary school, he was always irritable and we girls were terribly scared of him. Later, he died of cancer of the stomach. “No wonder he was irritable. He was probably not a bad person,” commented my mother.
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Shosei (a young male assistant)
He had oily hands and a red face with a big grin and took me to school. I didn’t like him, so I would walk very fast. But he always caught up with me. I told my mother that I could go to school by myself. “You still don’t know how scary the world is, Yoko. A girl cannot go anywhere without an escort,” said my mother.
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Doctor II
During the war, I was sent to Nagano Prefecture with my younger brother, younger sister and a maid to avoid the bombing, He mad a few house calls when I became ill from malnutrition. One day, he told me to close my eyes as he examined me. I felt very uncomfortable. Suddenly, warm, wet lips were pressed on my mouth. I froze. As I opened my eyes I saw him looking down at me.
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Doctor III
He had one tooth missing and smelled of alcohol. He took my appendix out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Doctor IV
He took my tonsils out so that I wouldn’t keep catching cold.
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Doctor V
He was a psychiatrist who told me my problem was that I was not dating.
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Doctor VI
He took my wisdom teeth out.
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Doctor VII
He performed a few abortions.
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Doctor VIII
He delivered my son and daughter.
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Artist I (X111)
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Artist II (XIV)
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Artist III (XV)
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Artist IV (XVI)
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Artist V (XVII)
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Artist VI (XVIII)
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Priest
He was called in to perform the last rites and suggested I give my last confession. I refused.
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Doctor IX
He closed my eyes. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” I said. “You can’t close my mind’s eye!”
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Attendant
I saw a dark hole in a shape of an arch. I saw my body being slid into it. It looked like the arch I came out at birth, I thought. I asked where it was going to take me to. The guy stood there looking at me without saying a word, as I lay down. It all seemed very familiar. What percentage of my life did I take it lying down? That was the last question I asked in my mind.
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Vertical Memory (1997)
Vertical Memory, 1997 (detail)
Set of 21 Iris prints with text plaques
Each 12 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches (31.7 x 49.5 cm)
Apr18-May31 2008, Tue-Sat 10am-6pm
Vertical Memory is one group of a series of Conceptual Photographs.
It's entering a dialogue with photography as a media.
Vertical Memory consists of 21 identical portraits with 21 different texts either all in English or all in Japanese.
It was created putting together photographs of my father, my husband, and my son. I selected photographs of them facing the same direction, overlapped them and morphed them.
From the moment I was born to the moment I will pass away, men have always been present in my life.
Every photo represents the man who was looking over me at a precise moment when I went through an important situation of my life.
And how much of my life I have spent, taken, lying down.
Vertical Memory
1997
Doctor I
I remember being born and looking into his eyes. He picked me up and slapped my bottom I screamed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Father
I was two-and-a-half when I arrived in San Francisco on a liner to meet him for the first time. He came on board, kissed my mother, and then looked at me looking up at him.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stranger
My mother was late in coming home to the hotel we had been staying at. I went in front of the elevator and waited for her. A man who came out of the elevator told me that I should not be standing there and he would help me find my mother. I remember him being very kind, but my mother got very upset about it all.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teacher
In our elementary school, he was always irritable and we girls were terribly scared of him. Later, he died of cancer of the stomach. “No wonder he was irritable. He was probably not a bad person,” commented my mother.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shosei (a young male assistant)
He had oily hands and a red face with a big grin and took me to school. I didn’t like him, so I would walk very fast. But he always caught up with me. I told my mother that I could go to school by myself. “You still don’t know how scary the world is, Yoko. A girl cannot go anywhere without an escort,” said my mother.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor II
During the war, I was sent to Nagano Prefecture with my younger brother, younger sister and a maid to avoid the bombing, He mad a few house calls when I became ill from malnutrition. One day, he told me to close my eyes as he examined me. I felt very uncomfortable. Suddenly, warm, wet lips were pressed on my mouth. I froze. As I opened my eyes I saw him looking down at me.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor III
He had one tooth missing and smelled of alcohol. He took my appendix out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------Doctor IV
He took my tonsils out so that I wouldn’t keep catching cold.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor V
He was a psychiatrist who told me my problem was that I was not dating.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor VI
He took my wisdom teeth out.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor VII
He performed a few abortions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor VIII
He delivered my son and daughter.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Artist I (X111)
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Artist II (XIV)
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Artist III (XV)
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Artist IV (XVI)
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Artist V (XVII)
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Artist VI (XVIII)
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Priest
He was called in to perform the last rites and suggested I give my last confession. I refused.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doctor IX
He closed my eyes. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” I said. “You can’t close my mind’s eye!”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Attendant
I saw a dark hole in a shape of an arch. I saw my body being slid into it. It looked like the arch I came out at birth, I thought. I asked where it was going to take me to. The guy stood there looking at me without saying a word, as I lay down. It all seemed very familiar. What percentage of my life did I take it lying down? That was the last question I asked in my mind.
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