“I don’t have to be feminine if I don’t want to”: How Ayaka Endo is Using Nature as Her Mirror
Words by Liv Franks
Fresh out of the Tokyo University of the Arts, and amidst the Covid-19-mandated time spent indoors, photographer Ayaka Endo’s inspiration turned outwards. As she explored the expanses of Japan, Ayaka Endo found few wild animals able to roam the land. Instead, they were located within the confines of zoos and farms. This led the photographer onto the concept of Animism, a belief system, held by the Ainu people residing in Hokkaido, which stems from the idea that everything in nature possesses a soul. In fact, the beliefs of the Ainu people state that Kamuy (translating to both God and soul) resides in every aspect of nature, such as fire, and water. These are elements over which “human power does not reach”. Therefore, Endo’s 2021 project Kamuy Mosir is a timely reminder for humanity to recognise their fallible place within the elemental world. Sheep, horses, and hens all feature in this collection that problematises the mechanised control humans have sought over nature. The photographer posits that though animals are “kept alive for humans”, they ultimately “have the same spirit and emotions”, and should not be subject to such exploitation.
Endo highlights how humans have made the natural unnatural through her use of unexpected pastels. This creates an otherworldly aura to the livestock in her collection, as if representing their spirits which human exploitation is attempting to dim. Moreover, Endo included animal portraiture, and frequently focuses on the animal’s eyes. Both techniques demonstrate the animal’s individuality at a time in which they are more homogenized than ever.
Endo also includes the use of photoshop to emphasise an artificial quality to the animal as a result of human interference. For example, the shot of the white horse’s eye shows the audience a distorted iris, as if the animal’s own ability to perceive the world has been hampered by human control. Now, she is harnessing the principles of Animism, and instead of showcasing the spirit within the natural world, Ayaka Endo is finding her own personal liberation.
The 2023 Swaying Flowers photo book focuses on flowers because the Tokyo based photographer saw the female form as intrinsically linked to the soft, feminine lines of petals. Ayaka Endo said, “I was trying to confine myself into the pressed flowers when I created them”, and, in doing so, inherently subscribing to rigid societal expectations of submissive femininity. Yet, as Ayaka Endo became cognisant that this was the case, she began to tear at the printed fabrics, metaphorically releasing herself from society’s aesthetic constraints. The three dimensional aspect of the two dimensional art form speaks to the multi-faceted qualities of women which are quelled in order to align themselves with the prescribed social order.
The collection also functioned as a comment on how women are subject to a ticking clock of aesthetic value, just like cut flowers. As they “wither with time, they just get thrown away”, and are replaced by fresh flowers. This mirrors how society attempts to push younger, newer women into the spotlight on an unforgivingly callous carousel. In tearing up the flowers, Ayaka Endo decides for herself when it is time for destruction and reinvention, instead of waiting for society to select a new model.
