Water Lily, Dance of Darkness
Butoh Dancer, Kazuo Ohno
“My intention in dressing as a woman onstage has never been to transform myself into a woman. Rather, I want to trace my life back to its most distant origins. More so than anything else, I long to return to where I’ve come from.”
Water Lily is a photographic series featuring Kazuo Ohno (1906-2010) who was a celebrated pioneer of Butoh, an avant-garde form of dance theatre which is often described as the Dance of Darkness. The series was photographed in the 1990s when Kazuo Ohno was in his late 80s. He is dressed as a maiden in a set that appears to represent a kind of purgatory. I wanted to capture the dancer’s physical expressions and gentle movements as they contrast in unexpected ways with his striking appearance.
The title Water Lily is taken from one of Kazuo Ohno’s performance pieces Water Lilies.
Picture Book
‘Water Lily’
The accompanying book ‘Water Lily’ is available for purchase. Please send a request via contact form.
Exhibition at Oxford Playhouse 2021
Projection at the Ashmolean Museum
Part of Japan After Hours 2021