Welcome to no. 52 in our series Poignant Pics where our editor, Diana Nicholette Jeon, writes about two works from Kumi Oguro

Disquieting Enigmas

I've been a 'superfan' of Kumi Oguro's work for a few years now but never interacted with her until recently when I asked her to feature these works. Oguro has spent her photographic career focused on female portraiture. At the outset, the models were stand-ins for herself in imagery based on her own experiences, a form of self-portraiture. As her work has evolved, she has focused on a character, Hester, from a book by John Irving that she found meaningful, A Prayer for Owen Meany. She told me, "I am drawn to this particular fictional female, Hester, because of her extreme nature; she is an extrovert, aggressive and chaotic, but also sensitive, loving and charming. I suppose it is true to say that to a certain extent, I could call all the women in my photographs 'Hester,' with a lot of affection." According to some interviews I found online, her previous work referenced Irving's Hotel New Hampshire.

To me, Kumi's works are a combination of sensual and tragic. The photographs are often disquieting due to her intentional use of this dichotomy. The thread winding through them is the inability of the viewer to see the faces of her models. There is attention to small detail while at the same time, she limits the specific information she wants us to see. She leaves it to her viewers to interpret the work through their cultural touchstones and imaginations.

(click the thumbnails for the full-sized images)

For example, in the work entitled Hester, it appears that something dire has befallen the woman. I strain to see what it may be if so but cannot. While the pose and hair might tell me the model is no longer living, the pinkness in her skin color tells me the opposite. I am left asking, "Is she drunk? Hurt? Sleeping?" Then, further questions: "Why is the hair on her face darker in tone than the hair growing from her head? Why has the photographer chosen to show me this woman at such an unusual angle?" 

Kumi created the work entitled Window after the pandemic began. Due to the lockdowns, she started to photograph interiors. Once the world allowed again, she actively incorporated the interiors as she worked with her models. She said, “Window is one of the first works I made when I started photographing models again. Here, both the female figure and the surrounding space play an equally important role.”

These visible fragments (interiors, fabrics, body parts, floors, splayed hair) and cunning use of angles and light create an air of mystery. Rather like bits of dreams, these incomplete narratives are full of allure, leaving me to grapple with the enigma of her work and womanhood in general.

Oguro's work is work I wish I made - all of it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Bravo, Kumi! I am sure you will be creating work that invites my imagination for years to come.

Artist Bio

Kumi Oguro studied photography in London and Antwerp. In Antwerp she also completed the course Film studies and Image Culture. She has participated in exhibitions and art/photography fairs in Europe, USA, Canada and Japan. She created images for the production of the Flemish Opera.Her images have been used for program books including Opéra national de Paris and Festival D'Aix-en-Provence and became covers of a couple of novels. Her first book NOISE was published by Le caillou bleu (Brussels) in 2008. Her second book HESTER was published by Stockmans Art Books (Duffel, Belgium) in September 2021. She lives and works in Antwerp since 1999.

More of her work is found on the web at http://kumioguro.com/ and on Instagram at @kumi_oguro.

Author Bio

Diana Nicholette Jeon is an award-winning artist based in Honolulu, HI, who works primarily with lens-based media. Her work has been seen both internationally and nationally in solo and group exhibitions. Jeon holds an MFA from UMBC.