A crucial dynamic to note in the series’
international popularity is that of Orientalism and Western looking. The basic
tenets of Orientalism define Eastern cultures broadly, in ways that are aligned
with colonial power paradigms, placing the Eastern other in a position of
cultural inferiority to the West. The art world is not divorced from
Orientalist perspectives, just the opposite. The international art world is
criticized for seeking out Japanese art that reinforces Western preconceived
notions of Japanese aesthetic (leaving little room for modern Japanese artists
to thrive). Miwa Yanagi’s global popularity, therefore, must also be considered
critically, for it is very often that Asian artists find international
accolades only through supporting Western expectations of Eastern art.
In her art and design thesis, Rachel Chamberlain
notes that Elevator Girls is
criticized by some for being self-orientalizing.[1]
Here the concerns around Western looking are two-fold; first, there is the
concern around Western art critics disproportionately valuing Asian artwork
that criticizes an Asian society, artwork that reinforces the perceived cultural and sociopolitical
inferiority of the Orient. This concern applies to readings of the Elevator Girls as a critique of
gender roles in Japanese society. The second concern is around the iconography
of Yanagi’s landscapes in Elevator Girls.
She creates futuristic landscapes with bright lights and a strong sense of
technological development. An example is one of Yanagi’s photographs in which
elevator girls are in a glass display case under bright lights.
Techno-orientalism fetishizes technological development
in the East, continuing Western objectification of
Eastern cultures. Iconography that resonates with bubbling, (often)
subconscious techno-orientalist readings become more apparent in some critics
referring to the elevator girls as appearing "robotic", looking more "cyborg" than
human.
I will not belabor this point any further, but do
wish to contextualize Yanagi’s work in an art world and global audience that
remains entangled in Eastern othering. With so many interpreting Yanagi’s work
as being laced with sociopolitical critique, we must observe these
interpretations as not existing in a vacuum. Yanagi’s artistic aesthetic, and
international audiences’ responses to her work, are never entirely divorced
from the Western Gaze.
Feminist
Iconography
Interrogating what creates images of female
disempowerment or liberation is central to reading Elevator Girls. Western readings often find the photo subjects’
homogeneity as a negative illustration, one that proves they are unable to
exercise agency through expressing themselves individually. This argument comes
into conflict with the common idea in feminist theory, that narrow expectations
and expressions of femininity are inherently oppressive. Conforming to societal
standards of femininity is, often in the United States, viewed as a symptom of
societal pressure that reduces control over self-representation. In this way we
must recognize that if you subscribe to such views of femininity, you are
predisposed to view Yanagi’s depiction of femininity as a critique of societal
pressure. Whether we should regard subscription to narrow standards of
femininity as devoid of agency is a complicated question. Although there is not
time enough to explore this question deeper, we must recognize that in reading
Yanagi’s images we quickly approach a fork in the road. One in which we are
asked to read the elevator girls as exercising or being denied agency, in the
context of conventional expressions of femininity.
If we broaden our understanding of female agency some of
the feminist readings of Elevator
Girls weakens. Another complication is the historical background on the
elevator girl position in Japan, one of the first jobs that offered single
University graduates the opportunity to support themselves. Although the
elevator girl profession demanded that young women showcase their beauty and
“guide” shoppers at different places in department stores, it also
inadvertently exhibited young Japanese women supporting themselves in a
developing Japanese economy. A job that demanded women subject themselves to,
and profit from the gaze, became a visible mode by which young women gained
socioeconomic independence (Chamberlain 2010).
And yet, even with this broader understanding of
female agency, there are those images within Yanagi’s series that, I would
argue, are palpably negative. The most obvious example of this being the image
of four women on the ground, shot from the ceiling. The images show a
progression of the elevator girls, wearing red, dissolving into a pool of
blood. The elevator girls in Yanagi’s series are frequently captured lying on
the ground, appearing lifeless.
Discerning those instances where we assume a woman
has no agency, versus discovering it through visual cues, is challenging. While
Yanagi’s series certainly finds its footing in some degree of sociopolitical
critique, its most interesting offering may not speak to gender dynamics in
Japan, so much as cross-cultural formations of feminist thought. Through
looking at the Elevator Girls,
viewers are encouraged to reflect on the parameters of feminist images and
depictions of female liberation. The questions introduced in a bell hooks panel
on representations of women may best summarize the questions Yanagi provokes: “… who actually has ownership? Who is making
the decisions and is it more powerful for us to make those decisions and put
our body on display, or not? Was it more powerful for us to be shamed into
thinking our bodies shouldn’t be displayed, or not? Are we free because we are
displaying? Are we free because of who we are displaying for? What liberates us
in the process” (New School panel 2014)?
[1] Definitions of self-orientalism
are often coupled with rising concerns around techno-orientalism. “Those
perceived cultural traits are turned into cultural assets, and merchandised as
such. What the techno-orientalist deformative lens perceives as robotic,
gregarious, and self-emasculated way of life is presented as a considerate,
balanced and reliable behavior. Paradoxically, the culture, tourism and entertainment
insures from Japan have been exporting products that undergo symbolic
negotiation in Western markets and, all too often, become techno-orientalist
avatars” (Lozano-Mendez 186, 2010).
