Between Purity And Depravity
Born in 1957, Ken-ichi Murata (村田 兼一) creates images using the classic method of applying color to monochromatic photographs. In his work, we see women whose partially nude bodies catch our attention, as they reveal a mix of innocence and naughtiness, supported by their angelic faces and the shameless display of their genitals. To create this ambivalence between purity and depravity, the artist builds his mise-en-scène based on fairy tales. However, more than just erotic reinterpretations of these narratives, Ken-ichi Murata's photographs can be seen as satires of this genre of literature, which often idealizes women as passive and innocent figures:
"There is a photograph where a rubber hose comes out of a girl’s vagina (see Premium). The hose can be taken as a penis and also as an umbilical cord. In that photograph, the girl, nourished by being connected to something, is sleeping. And her face is quite peaceful. In my image, the girl is like a fetus peacefully sleeping, as if she were a princess in the tale Sleeping Beauty. With such imagination, I derive erotic stories from fairy tales and classical literature, and through my interpretation, I remake the stories. And with my obsession, I develop the stories further, making them unique."
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The Ambiguities Of Hime
This obsession allows the female figure, though placed in contexts that recall the imagery of princesses — sophisticated settings and elegant clothing — to break expectations by making the idea of submission ambiguous. Rather than being merely delicate and obedient beings, his princesses embody the concept of “hime” (姫), an ancient Japanese term that can be translated as reverence and melancholy toward women. In Japanese historical and cultural context, "hime" traditionally refers to a princess or a noble lady, used to describe women of imperial or aristocratic families in ancient Japan, carrying connotations of respect and reverence. Over time, it has also been used more broadly as an honorific for women or to describe something small, adorable, or precious. However, "hime" can also have an ambiguous connotation and, in some regions of Japan, such as Kansai — Murata’s birthplace — it is sometimes used more colloquially and erotically, referring to prostitutes or women who sell pleasure. Through this duality of meanings, the artist allows eroticism to emerge from the tension between innocence and desire, manifested in the princess-like clothing and the revelation of what they conceal.
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Vaginas And Anuses
In some of his photographs, the display of vaginas and anuses is articulated through objects inserted into them, creating a kind of visual dialogue between the body and the external world, as the objects used are not mere props but serve to connect the narratives to the sexuality of Japanese cultural imagery — such as rubber hoses inserted into vaginas that echo the fascination with tentacles in erotic art. Ken-ichi Murata also incorporates ivy and other plants into the vaginas of his models, giving the impression that they are growing and intertwining around their buttocks like ornaments. He uses fine, long ropes that, like spider webs, capture a girl by the buttocks for his photographs, as well as algae, moss, and fishnet stockings, used to entrap the female bodies, which seem to become passive when caught in these snares. As Murata himself explains: "And in the basic stories of those of my works, there are two types: 'A girl wandered around the different world and got raped by monsters. But she released herself strongly' or 'And then she got assimilated into the different world or monsters and ended up rotting away.'"
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Click HERE for an article on the pioneer of bondage photography Charles-François Jeandel and his blue women
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