YUKI UMEZAWA: BREAKING THE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN BEAUTY AND DECAY
Tokyo-based artist Yuki Umezawa has fully given herself over to the darkness. A darkness that exists in the smeared line between reality and fantasy. Originally hailing from Kanagwa prefecture, her artistic practice began with a simple fascination with the human body and the unsettling “ugliness” that is exposed when we peel back the layers. She describes her style now as “human modification” merging portraiture with graphic touches, bending and reforming her subjects into hauntingly beautiful forms, suspended between life and death. For the artist, her use of photography and design are not end goals but rather delicate instruments: tools for dismantling the body from its natural limits.
There is a palpable tension running throughout her work. Beauty and distortion sitting hand in hand, strange bedfellows in a bizarre but alluring experiment. With a wide range of influences, informing her work, from literary to cinematic, her evolving visual language possesses a maturity and scope that belies her age. Yet rather than rely solely on shock value, she has embodied her work with a tenderness, depth and love for her subjects that is evident with each completed artwork.
Her style feels deeply personal, introspective, and emotional, but with themes such as life, death, beauty and decay scratching at the surface, there is something “all too human” about her work. GATA recently had the pleasure of speaking to the artist, touching on the roots of her creative process and the importance of transformation and decay in her art.
[EN] GATA: Hi Yuki! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? Where are you from and how did your journey with photography and art begin?
YUKI: Hello. I’m Yuki. I’m based in Tokyo and create works called “human modification,” which blend portrait photography and graphic art. I’m originally from Kanagawa Prefecture. I started creating as an extension of my hobby, and it all began with my fascination with the human body itself.
GATA: How was school for you? Did you ever go on to study art in a formal manner?
YUKI: I attended a fashion vocational school for two years, but I never formally studied fine art. The curriculum was mainly business-focused. However, it became the opportunity for me to realise that I wanted to create work centred on the human body rather than clothing.
[JP] GATA: こんにちは、有希さん！ご自身について少し教えていただけますか？ご出身はどちらですか？また、写真やアートの道はどのように始まりましたか？
有希: こんにちは。有希です。東京を拠点に、human modificationという、ポートレートとグラフィックを融合した作品を制作しています。神奈川県出身です。制作は趣味の延長から始まり、人間の身体そのものに惹かれたことがきっかけです。
GATA: 学校生活はいかがでしたか？美術を正式に学ばれたことはありますか？
有希: 服飾の専門学校に2年間通いましたが、美術を学んだ事は一度も無いです。ビジネス中心のカリキュラムだったので。衣服より身体を軸に制作したいと気付いたきっかけにはなりました。
[EN] GATA: Your style is quite dark and grotesque, what influenced this particular direction?
YUKI: Writers like Yasumi Tsuhara, photographers like Joel-Peter Witkin, and doll artists like Hans Bellmer and Nori Doi. In manga, I’m into Nekojiru and Tōru Seino’s work. I feel like the dark humour I see on Twitter is also part of where I come from, and I feel like I haven’ changed since I was a kid. I think memory and self-loathing probably plays a role too.
GATA: Do you like horror cinema? Do you have any favourite films that have influenced your work?
YUKI: Actually… I’m not very good with horror movies. If we’re talking Japanese films, I’d say Tsuitō no Zawameki by Yoshihiko Matsui and Zigeunerweisen by Seijun Suzuki. Western films… there’s The Cannibals by Manoel de Oliveira, as well as works by the Brothers Quay. Of all of them, I like The Cannibals the most.
[JP] GATA: 有希さんのスタイルはとてもダークでグロテスクな印象がありますが、この方向性に影響を与えたものは何でしょうか。
有希: 小説家の津原泰水、写真家だとジョエル=ピーター・ウィトキン、人形作家だとハンス・ベルメール、土井典。漫画だと、ねこぢるとか清野とおる作品。Twitterのブラックユーモアも原点な気がするし、幼い時から根本は変わらないです。記憶や自己嫌悪とかも関係してると思います。
GATA: ホラー映画はお好きですか？作品制作に影響を受けたお気に入りの映画があれば教えてください。
有希: 実はホラー映画は苦手です... 邦画では、松井良彦の追悼のざわめき、鈴木清順のツィゴイネルワイゼン。
洋画では、マノエル・ド・オリヴェイラのカニバイシュ。ブラザーズクエイの作品等。中でもカニバイシュが1番好きです。
[EN] GATA: How do you think your influences have informed your creative practice?
YUKI: I feel like Tsuitō no Zawameki and Zigeunerweisen influenced me the most.I like how they don’t distance themselves from human ugliness and don’t pass judgement. There’s a kind of gentleness to that. I also love how they trap you in a moment in time, leaving you unsure as to whether you’re in a nightmare or reality.
GATA: How did you develop this signature style of mixing graphic design and photography?
YUKI: My style was a result of feeling something lacking from just taking photos and also from the influence of doll artists. For me photography and graphics aren’t the final goal, they’re just tools. This is a fairly recent development, so it might change in the future.
[JP] GATA: そうした影響は、ご自身のクリエイティブな実践にどのように反映されていると思いますか。
有希：影響を受けたのは邦画の二つです。人間の醜さを突き離さない、断罪しない優しいところ。悪夢か現実かわからず時間の中に閉じ込められるところとか。
GATA: グラフィックデザインと写真をミックスする現在のシグネチャースタイルは、どのようにして確立されたのですか。
有希：写真を撮る中で物足りなさを感じたり人形作家の制作に影響を受けた結果です。写真やグラフィックは目的ではなく、手段です。割と最近のことなので今後変化するかもです。
[EN] GATA: What is your creative process like?
YUKI: There are times when I decide things as I go, and other times when I have a rough plan before the shoot.
When I’m using a piece as a way to process my emotions and organize them, it’s probably the latter. I might also be projecting myself onto the subject.
GATA: What would you say are the central themes of your work?
YUKI: My main theme is the boundary between reality and fantasy. Rather than focus on destruction, I want to record and reconstruct the moments when the contours of a human being start to blur. Also… a lot of my work is about my love for my subjects.
[JP] GATA: 制作プロセスについて教えてください。どのようにしてアイデアを明確なコンセプトへと形にしていくのでしょうか。
有希： 流れで決めるパターンと、撮影に入る前にある程度固めてるパターンとかもあります。作品を感情処処理係にして整えるために使ってる時はたぶん後者です。被写体に自分を投影してるのかも。
GATA: ご自身の作品における中心的なテーマは何だと思いますか。
有希：現実と幻想の境目が基本テーマです。破壊というより人間という輪郭が、揺らぐ瞬間を記録・再構築したいと思ってます。あと、被写体への愛です。
[EN] GATA: Skulls, plastered skin, scars: there is a sense of decomposition and destruction in your imagery. What is it about these motifs that excites you?
YUKI: I think it’s because these moments between what is beautiful and ugly or life and death allow boundaries to be broken down most explicitly. It makes it easier to visualise.
GATA: There is a tension between beauty and death existing in your photos. What is beautiful to you?
YUKI: I think it’s when I see a being quietly shifted into another phase of existence that I feel a beauty tinged with guilt. I don’t really feel like I’m dealing with death itself.
[JP] GATA: 頭蓋骨、貼りついた皮膚、傷跡など、作品には分解や破壊を感じさせるイメージがあります。こうしたモチーフのどのような点に魅力を感じていますか。
有希：きれい/醜い、生/死。境界が機能しなくなる瞬間を最も露骨に可視化できるからだと思います。
GATA: 作品には美と死のあいだの緊張感が存在しているように感じます。有希さんにとって「美しい」とは何でしょうか。
有希：存在がいつの間にか別のフェーズに移されてしまう瞬間を見た時に、罪悪感を含んだ美しさを感じているのだと思います。死そのものを扱ってる感覚はあまりないです。
[EN] GATA: One of my favourite things about your work is your collaboration with Kotone [@in.__.utero]. In a time when many people are relying heavily on AI or CGI for creativity, the use of real practical effects and SFX make-up feels significant. Is it important for you to maintain an analogue element in your work?
YUKI: Kotone initially focused just on hair and makeup but naturally her way of expressing evolves into special effects makeup. I really believe there is a unique beauty in analogue elements and the kind of imperfection that comes with it.
GATA: This style of art that you’re making, do you feel there is a community of creatives who share your way of thinking?
YUKI: I’m not sure. I don’t really feel like I belong to any specific community, but I think it would be fun if I did. I’d love to create work with all kinds of people, so please feel free to send me a DM.
[JP] GATA: 私が特に好きなのは、Kotone［@in.__.utero］さんとのコラボレーションです。多くの人がAIやCGIに大きく頼る時代において、実際の特殊効果やSFXメイクを用いることはとても意義深く感じられます。作品の中にアナログな要素を保つことは、有希さんにとって重要ですか。
有希：Kotoneは当初ヘアメイクのみでしたが、彼女の表現が自然と特殊メイクに移行した感じです。アナログな要素や不完全さ特有の美しさがあると思います。
GATA: 現在制作されているこのスタイルのアートについて、同じような考え方を共有するクリエイティブなコミュニティの存在を感じますか。
有希：分からないです、明確なコミュニティに属している感覚もありませんが、あったら楽しそうと思います。色んな人と作品作りたいので是非DM送ってください。
“I want to further establish the kind of work that I do, a fusion of portraiture and graphic elements, as its own genre. I kind of struggle to explain exactly what it is that I actually do, so I’d like there to be a proper term that people can commonly recognise. Right now I’ve just been describing it as my own ‘human modification.’”
[EN] GATA: Within the Tokyo creative scene right now, who or what is inspiring you?
YUKI: An event organized by the goth band 13th Moon became a great opportunity for me to discover bands I like, since it brings together groups that really suit my taste. That’s also how I got into Palastleben. I also enjoy the live shows of artists like VMO, Mop of Head, and Wozniak.
[JP] GATA: 今の東京のクリエイティブシーンの中で、刺激を受けている人や物事はありますか。
有希：13th moonというゴスバンド主催のイベントは好みのバンドが集まるので知るきっかけになりましたし、Palastlebenハマりました。また、VMOやMop of HeadやWozniakというアーティストのライブも好きです。
[EN] GATA: And finally, Happy Lunar New Year! Do you have any plans or goals for this year?
YUKI: This year, my goal is simply not to stop. I don’t have enough technical skill yet, so I want to dedicate myself to training and improving. I also want people to see my work in person. I’ll be releasing T-shirts before summer as well. I hope you’ll keep an eye on my future activities!
GATA: 最後に、旧正月おめでとうございます！今年の抱負や目標があれば教えてください。
有希：今年は、止まらないことです。技術も無いですし、修行に出たいです。あと直接作品を見てもらいたいと考えてます。Tシャツも夏前に販売します。今後の活動もチェックして欲しいです。