mother's 2000-2005 : traces of the future

'Ishiuchi Miyako, Mother's 2000-2005: Traces of the Future' was first shown in the Japanese Pavilion at the 51st Venice Biennale in 2005. Works presented at the Biennale, together with previously unpublished works are on view in this exhibition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography.

'Ishiuchi Miyako' series of work, entitled "Mother's 2000-2005: Traces of the Future", consists of photographs of her mother's nude body, taken shortly prior to her mother's death at eighty-four, together with pictures of her mother's chemise, girdle, lipstick, false teeth, shoes, etc. that her mother kept about her body while she was still alive, each presented in the form of portrait. This series was created by the photographer in an effort to overcome her feelings of loss after her mother's death, but simultaneously, it captures her mother as another woman while graphically describing the changes that occurred in women's attitudes in the postwar years, through the stormy life of a single individual.' - excerpt from essay by Michiko Kasahara.