Photography has the ability to wrap whole novels into a single image. One look and the viewer can absorb the mood, the narrative, and the key characters. Much like reading a book, the story unfolds and an event unravels. Some stories are short and to the point; others are lengthy and complicated. Kanako Sasaki's images are both. By casting herself as the single protagonist or including just a few characters in each frame, Sasaki is able to build many layers of suggested narrative into each image. These layers hold many surprises built with humor and a quirky, unexpected depth.

In her images Sasaki captures energy and joy, childlike wonder, and naivety. In the world of her pictures social etiquette does not matter, and occasional embarrassment is accepted as a fact of life. Only the expression of emotion as action is important in Sasaki's sometimes upside-down world. She sets her figures apart within the grandness of nature, inspired by childhood memories, novels, and Ukiyo-e paintings. Ukiyo, literally translated as "floating world," is a Japanese genre in literature and painting that developed in the sixteenth century. It depicts a reality that embraces the coexistence of life and death. As Sasaki describes it, "death comes later, but we can enjoy life now."

By wrapping whole novels into each of her images, Kanako Sasaki gives us a rich and poetic description of her imagination and memory.

August 22–October 22, 2005
Reception: Thursday, September 29, 6–8pm
Light Work Main Gallery
Robert B. Menschel Media Center

Contact Sheet: Major exhibitions at Light Work are published in Contact Sheet, one of the longest-running art photography publications in the world. Subscribers will receive issue #133 featuring Kanako Sasaki shortly. Please visit our Web site for subscription details.

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