Miwa Yanagi - Elevator Girls

2007, First edition, Seigensha, Japan

Miwa Yanagi is a Japanese photographic artist who examines the self-image and stereotypes of women in contemporary Japanese society. Yanagi was discovered by conceptual photographer Yasumasa Morimura, who noticed some of her work while borrowing her house as a set for a separate project.

Elevator Girls focuses on themes of everyday life, self-identity, architecture, and employment in the world of girls who operate the elevators of Japanese department stores. Elevator Girls first started as performance piece early in her career. It was to represent and reflect on what Yanagi was going through at this time. The performance was about a young girl who works in a narrow box, who has to repeat the same task over and over again, day after day.The later photographs of this collection show women dressed similarly and who often show very little emotion. The switch from performance art to photography was because Yanagi wanted complete control in what was going on. These young models are all physically similar in body composition. The way they are posed shows that they are restricted on what they can do and where they can go, much as restrictions are placed on women culturally. In the photos the elevator girls stare at architectural design or consumer goods. The staring represents society's obsession with consumer goods.These standardized young women in her artwork series symbolized the capitalistic and patriarchal society of Japan and how the roles of women in the workforce of Japan is suppressed and idealized to serve and obey their male-dominated society. This book is formed as a postcard and includes the name of each art photograph as well as the year. Out of print.