Kazama Sachiko: Etcher of Stygian Worlds
Kazama Sachiko is an award-winning contemporary artist that portrays dystopian worlds through the art of woodblock printing, a technique most notably used in Ukiyo-e.
Born in Tokyo in 1972, she has continued to make the city her base, graduating from Musashino art school in 1996 and going on to hold an abundance of galleries both domestically and internationally.
Kazama’s work incorporates many motifs - often, those that focus on socio-political themes and the intersection of past, present, and future.
Her style is reminiscent of retrofuturism-meets-‘gekiga’. Gekiga, being an anime style targeted at mature audiences, translates directly as “dramatic picture.” Prolonged observation of her work enthralls the viewer and compels deeper delving into her midnight-colored universes, where one can easily lose themselves in the masterful etchings. Kazama’s art is frequently described as foreshadowing, darkly comical, and totalitarian.
Her largest piece to date, ‘Dyslympics 2680’, has aged with great irony. Made in 2018, Dyslympics 2680 is a portrayal of the 2020 Olympics, the year 2680 equating to 2020 in the Japanese imperial calendar. According to Mujin-to, a Tokyo gallery, the piece was themed on “the national eugenics law and the unjustness of the state's power controlling life”. However, in today’s climate, the portrayal of a stadium barren of spectators, paired with a sun evocative of the Coronavirus, the piece has taken on a completely different political meaning.
More of her work can be seen in an upcoming exhibition, entitled “FEMINISMS”, this October 14th until March 13th, at the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa. The exhibition will be held jointly with notable artists of various mediums, namely renowned photographer Nagashima Yurie.
