IZIMA KAORU. ERIN O'CONNOR WEARS VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, 2007.
© THE ARTIST. COMMISSIONED BY On|Off, LONDON. COURTESY F A PROJECTS, LONDON
Izima Kaoru, who lives and works in Tokyo, has been photographing his ‘landscapes with a corpse’ since 1993. His photographs of famous models and actresses, apparently dead, is now recognised as one of the defining oeuvres of Japanese photography of the last 20 years. This is the first time Izima has worked with a British model.
Each of Izima's series is conceived as a collaboration. He works in a process of development with the model in advance of the shoot to discuss and devise the scenario of her death, and sees the project as a realisation of her own fantasy of a perfect death. At times the narrative, and the exact cause of death, is clear from the photographs, at other times it is more mysterious; interpretations are left up to us. Izima's goal is always to create, in this portrayal of a perfect death, a moment of beauty.
