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PROFILE
Ayano Sudo
Born in Osaka in 1986. Graduated from the Master’s program at Kyoto City University of Arts in 2011. Studied abroad at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in France during her studies. Received the Mayor's Award at the Kyoto City University of Arts Exhibition in 2009. Awarded the Special Jury Prize by Yasumasa Morimura at the Mio Photography Encouragement Prize 2010. Won the Grand Prix at Canon New Cosmos of Photography 2014 for <幻影 Gespenster>. Major works include <Metamorphose> (2011- ), a series of photographs featuring herself and friends disguised in ideal forms unbound by gender, self-portraits dressed as a real missing girl in <幻影 Gespenster> (2013-14), and <面影 Autoscopy> (2015), which focuses on the phenomenon of others appearing like oneself. After holding her first solo exhibition at 1839 Contemporary Gallery (Taiwan, 2011), she has participated in numerous domestic and international exhibitions and art fairs. Notable exhibitions include "写真都市―ウィリアム・クラインと22世紀を生きる写真家たち" (21_21 Design Sight, Tokyo, 2018), "愛について アジアン・コンテンポラリー" (Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Tokyo, 2018), VITA MACHINICALIS (MEM, Tokyo, 2022), MISSING (MEM, Tokyo, 2024), among many others. X / Instagram
In the solo exhibition "MISSING" held from November to December 22, 2024, I focused on modern Japanese women who became well-known through media exposure but gradually vanished as their era passed. I presented self-portrait photographs recreating their images from the blurry photographs that remain in the present.
In this work, I introduced two women who lived during the same period and explored the historical background and status of women at that time, drawing insights from the clothing they wore.
From Ayano Sudo's "鬼が栖むか蛇が栖むか" (The devil dwells or the snake dwells)
The first person is Yoshiko Kawashima. Her real name is Aisin Gioro Xianyu (愛新覚羅顯㺭). She is a descendant of the Aisin Gioro family, which led the last Chinese empire, the Qing dynasty, known for the last emperor. Amid the chaos from the late Qing dynasty to the establishment of Manchukuo, she was strategically adopted by a Japanese power figure. Traumatized by sexual abuse from her adoptive father, she attempted suicide with a pistol, but later decided to shave her long hair and live as a man. "I want to stand at the front like Joan of Arc and recover the lost land of the Manchu dynasty someday" (Yoshiko Kawashima, from "動乱の蔭に," p. 40). She donned a self-made military uniform and led an officially recognized vigilante group by the Japanese army in Japanese-ruled Manchukuo. After the war, she was executed as a war criminal by the Republic of China, but the execution was conducted in private; it is said she had a stand-in and eventually vanished into mainland China to live out her days.
