Ken-Ichi Murata, Shadow Tales

Come and explore the fascinating dream world of artist Ken-Ichi Murata. His intimate hand-coloured photographs display fragile Japanese girls posing naked in front of his camera. The innocence that emanates from their facial expressions gets immediately undone by the positions they are in. The girls’ bodies are tied up using the techniques of ancient Japanese sexual rites.
Who dominates whom? Are the girls really as powerless as we would imagine or is it really they who dominate us with their captivating and sensual beauty?

Photographer
Ken-ichi Murata (1957). Lives and works in Osaka.
Hand-colouring by Yumiko Yamasaki (1975).

Ken-ichi Murata has been working on his series of hand-coloured photographs of Japanese girls for over 15 years. The photos introduce us to the artist’s fantasy realm, where he – freed from inhibitions – enchants spectators with his sensual aestheticism. His girls are never objectified; he calls them nymphs or princesses and treats them with the utmost respect. He plays a game of dominance and submission with them, but no matter what happens here, the girls remain pure. In this world, there is no pain, no death, no sadness. Isn’t this what all our dream worlds should be like?