This is a story of Fumiko Yamato, a Japanese dancer. Though highly acclaimed both domestically and internationally, she has long been considered as a misfit or unorthodox within the circle of traditional Japanese dance. While following the structure of her signature performance “Renjishi”, I visually represented her life that broke through the wild side, the difficulty and ambivalence in exchanging the art and love.

During the research, I found a picture of her taken around the time she started dancing. I felt that the wormhole, which drilled through her whole body in the picture, was a strong metaphor that talks eloquently about the period of her hunger for affection. Duplication, collage, reboosting and connecting of impressions, I organized in multiple layers using various photographic methodologies while looking back over 70 years. This work is a tribute and a new interpretation of the classical piece “Renjishi”.

連師子 / Renjishi
Ryo Kusumoto

Self-published
2019

Design
Ryo Kusumoto

142 pages
24.8cm x 16.3cm x 2.2cm

Edition of 68