Artist Research: Izima Kaoru

Izima Kaoru is a Japanese photographer that I have only just recently come across when reading ‘A photograph as contemporary art’ by Charlotte Cotton.  Kaoru is best known for creating theatrical and dynamic scenes of a gruesome nature: normally of which that entail a death, this creates a merge of beauty and style alongside carnage and disgust. Something that Kaoru does is use attractive models and actresses that all are shot in a way that portrays their own deaths; however the model remains the main focus rather than the actual death itself.

 Kaoru’s work doesn’t exactly come across as tragic, but in fact fairly picturesque. The so called ‘victims’ aka the models/actresses are always dressed in designer clothing such as Vivienne Westwood which is an interesting contrast to incorporate into a death scene.

Something that really inspires me about Kaoru’s work is how he actually asks the models and actresses to reveal their ‘perfect fantasies’ about death as well as what clothes they would like to be in when they ‘die’. I think the way that Kaoru makes his photographs gives a whole different approach to the outcomes of his images, and allows such a broad amount of work to be created. 

Reference List:
 ‘A photograph as contemporary art’ by Charlotte Cotton.