Tomoko Sawada

For the series Omiai "Omiai" (omiai=meeting with a view to marriage, ed.), Sawada similarly portrays herself as thirty different candidates for arranged marriages. In this long Japanese tradition, potential brides dressed in formal attire go to have their pictures taken at a professional portrait studio. The parents subsequently exchange and distribute these cards to other families and relatives in hopes of finding a suitable husband for their daughter. In traditional kimono or business suit, Sawada again forces our eyes into doubletake. As with ID-400, the artist relinquishes traditional control of the shutter release and, instead, chooses to use a ready-made camera/photographer, here in the form of a real portrait studio.

Tomoko Sawada lives and works in Japan.
Geb. 1977 in Kobe, Präfektur Hyogo; lebt in Kobe
1998 Absolventin des Department of Media Design, Seian College of Art and Design
1998 Studium am Department of Photography, Seian University of Art and Design
Studienabschluss 2000
seit 2001 Assistentin an der Seian University of Art and Design
2000 The grand prize, Canon New Cosmos of Photography 21th Competition.
Recently, her works were exhibited in prominent group shows at ICP and the Japan Society.