With ambitions of becoming a professional photographer, Japanese fashion model Kimiko Kojima left her booming career for New York in 1994 to study photography. There she met the kind of people she never knew in Japan -- people with dreams and ambitions as strong as her own. In Present Portrait, the current exhibition at Taiwan International Visual Arts Center (
Admitting influences from photographers such as Albert Watson and Philip Lorca di Corcia, Kimiko is deeply interested in portraiture and the power of black-and-white prints. Comparing nudes to delicate architectural designs, Kimiko finds the human body fascinating. What intrigues her more is how a person's body can express that person's unique personality, no less than his or her face does.
PHOTO: TIVAC
As a lighting test, Kimiko had two close friends pose nude in 1998 and was amazed by the resulting contact sheet. "I compared them and placed them side by side. My friends looked more specific in the photo than they were," Kimiko said. Then she went on to include 22 more people, mostly her friends and acquintances in Present Portrait aimed at exploring the meanings, "being there" and "now," of the word "present."
Deprived of their clothing and standing against a white backdrop, the subjects lay bare not only their bodies but their feelings as well. Their eye contact with the camera, some cheerful while mostly resilient or even sad, enhanced the effect Kimiko had intended -- to show their innermost feelings and true self through the way they pose naked.
When Kimiko was forced to end the project in early 2000 for personal reasons, she decided that 24 portraits were enough for the series. "It was not necessary to take more photos because the meaning of the project is mainly personal. They are the people I know well. Not anyone can pose for these photos," said Kimiko, explaining the close relationship between those at the two sides of the camera -- the major trait of her photos.
The photo session usually started with the subject fully dressed. To make them feel comfortable, Kimiko made them remove their clothes one by one. At the same time, "I talked to them casually about their boyfriends or small stuff in their lives. The final nude-posing came naturally," said Kimiko. In understanding the feeling of her subjects, her modeling experience has helped a lot.
In addition to these photos, which had been on show last year in Tokyo, Present Portrait II, her more recent color photos, are also on show.
The portraits are also of people Kimiko knows well. The spontaneity with which the photos were taken gives them a warmth and humor in some cases. Usually spending a little time setting them up, Kimiko managed to render many of the portraits in an interestingly dramatic way.
In Christina's Mother, Kimiko's favorite work, the mother of Kimiko's best friend sits on a messy room full of tacky keepsakes and old magazines. Heavily made-up and dressed in a luxuriantly pink night gown, the sturdy middle-aged woman holding a grimacing big cat exudes an eerie charm. Standing in front of the portrait, you seem to smell her thick perfume.
Although Kimiko managed to get out the selfness of her subjects, the portraits are lacking in significance for general viewers due to their unfamiliarity with these people, causing some of the photos' subtleties to fail to register. However, her keen sense of composition and color still make the exhibition worthwhile for photography enthusiasts.
What: Present Portrait -- Kimiko Kojima solo exhibition
Where: Taiwan International Visual Arts Center, 29, Ln, 45, Liaoling St. Taipei (
When: Through Aug. 29
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