MOMOYO TORIMITSU

This project examines the rise of uniform urbanism and its potential of harmony and productivity through the well-orchestrated lives of the “shufu” Japanese housewives. Portraits (photographs) of married women suggest Disneyland lifestyles of artificial gardens with promises of holidays full of palm trees, karaoke, amusements, tennis courts and quasi theme parks.

 

This installation mimics the characteristics of “new towns” or “bed towns,” as they’re called, that have been built in Japan -- indeed all over Asia -- in the shadows of big cities over the last 30 to 40 years.

 

The yellow dome represents a model of an actual housing complex, and the portraits hanging on the walls are of the resident wives. Torimitsu takes note of the fantasy of suburbia, whose occupants believe and dream of the similar ideal life that capitalist societies continuously sell to their citizens.