Migrating bodies

16 January 2019   •  
Written by Lou Tsatsas
Migrating bodies

In Mayu, Japanese photographer Sayuri Ichida reinterpreted the notion of migration. A beautiful project, mixing solitude, strength and dance.

Born in Fukuoka, Japan, photographer Sayuri Ichida moved to New York in 2012. Two years later, she shifted her focus away from commercial photography, to pursue more personal projects. “What most draws me to take pictures are the simple moments in everyday life. There is a soft, unspoken beauty in simplicity”, Sayuri Ichida tells us. Shot in film, her pictures enhance, with a unique grain, the characters she stages.

Mayu – the model who gave the series her name – and the photographer met through their husbands, who were ex-roommates. Ballet dancer and fellow migrant, the young woman inspired Sayuri Ichida to build a project around her talent for dance. “This series is an expression of our shared immigrant experience”, the artist explains. Her face hidden, her body contorting, Mayu deconstructs the classicism of classical dance.

Strength and precision

“In these images, I purposefully treat her as an object in a frame and challenge her to go outside her comfort zone and do things differently from her formal training as a ballerina”,

Sayuri Ichida says. Stuck in uncomfortable positions, Mayu’s body evoke the solitude immigrants feel. The neutral and stripped-down settings enhance this sense of alienation. “She is always alone in the frame and her posture looks like she is struggling but at the same time trying to overcome those feelings”, adds Sayuri.

Although Mayu’s poses were not inspired by classical dance, the young woman’s strength and precision are undeniable. A power illustrating the will of migrants to fit in a new culture, overcoming obstacles. The originality of the positions, popular in contemporary dance, brings to mind a certain freedom. A hopeful attempt to let go. By capturing Mayu in this minimal and warm-toned environment, Sayuri Ichida has written a fascinating character, fragile, delicate and fierce at the same time.

© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida© Sayuri Ichida© Sayuri Ichida© Sayuri Ichida

© Sayuri Ichida

Explore
Instagram selection #312
Instagram selection #312
Through portraits or landscapes, the artists of our Instagram selection #312 never stop experimenting. All of them seek new textures and...
24 August 2021   •  
Written by Joachim Delestrade
Salvador Dalí, lava lamps and Rock en Seine: Emma Birski's Chinese portrait
Salvador Dalí, lava lamps and Rock en Seine: Emma Birski’s Chinese portrait
"Photography is a way of expressing myself and staging things that I imagine beautiful, but that I will never see in real life," Emma...
18 August 2021   •  
Written by Finley Cutts
Instagram selection #310
Instagram selection #310
Magic, fantasy, abstraction, humour... By playing with genres and emotions, the photographers of our Instagram selection #310 highlight...
10 August 2021   •  
Written by Fisheye Magazine
Readers picks #352
Readers picks #352
Both passionate about the photographic medium since childhood, Samantha Lomprez and Margot Gremillon – our readers picks #352 – find in...
09 August 2021   •  
Written by Lou Tsatsas
Our latest articles
View all articles
Readers picks #355
Readers picks #355
Alexander Kaller and Stephen Sillifant, our readers picks #355, both escape the frenzy of our world to produce peaceful images – a...
30 August 2021   •  
Written by Fisheye Magazine
British seaside, round animals and Céline Sciamma: Max Miechowski's Chinese portrait
British seaside, round animals and Céline Sciamma: Max Miechowski’s Chinese portrait
Trained as a musician, British artist Max Miechowski turned to photography after a long trip to Southeast Asia. Portraits...
25 August 2021   •  
Written by Lou Tsatsas
Instagram selection #312
Instagram selection #312
Through portraits or landscapes, the artists of our Instagram selection #312 never stop experimenting. All of them seek new textures and...
24 August 2021   •  
Written by Joachim Delestrade
The labourer who turned mud into silver
The labourer who turned mud into silver
With Zilverbeek (Silver creek), Lucas Leffler explores the myth of a worker who made his wealth from the mud that lined the bottom of a...
23 August 2021   •  
Written by Finley Cutts