My work delves into the theme of physicality,
intertwining digital media with the movements
of Butoh, a distinctive Japanese modern dance
form.
"HUMAN PERFORMER" revisits questions of
Asian (Japanese) female physicality, patriarchy,
tradition, and the constructed nature of gender
within the framework of post-human feminism.
Butoh, often termed the "dance of darkness,"
was conceived by Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo
Ohno in the aftermath of World War II as a means
to re-establish Japanese cultural identity. It
diverged from modernization and Western dance
styles, instead grounding itself in enigmatic
principles such as philosophy, the subconscious,
primal instincts, and ancient, inscrutable myths.
Tradition is the strong identity of the Japanese
people, and out of proportion to capitalist social
development, it continues to reign as a source
of pride in its prestigious beauty, hiding the
absurdity hidden within its traditions. Notably,
Japan ranked 118th out of 146 countries in
the 2024 Global Gender Gap Index, reflecting
persistent gender disparities, particularly in
political representation.
This work incorporates Noh, an ancient
Japanese performing art that has long been
inaccessible to women.
Historically, Noh and other traditional Japanese
cultural forms were exclusively performed by

men, with male actors taking on female roles.
Performers don masks to embody characters
in a spiritual realm inhabited by humans, spirits,
demons, and deities. Among them, the Okina
mask, representing an elderly man, holds the
highest prestige. It stands as a powerful symbol
of male dominance in the arts, reinforcing a
history of patriarchy and the systematic exclusion
of women.
In this piece, I amalgamate these visages—
an AI-generated masculinized version of my
elderly self, the face of a traditional elderly man
mask, and that of a traditional Japanese woman
mask—to interrogate the very foundations of
tradition, gendered value systems, and the
constructs of age. This exploration seeks to
unravel the privileged associations embedded
in gender and age, questioning the equation of
MAN = human being.
A male Butoh dancer once told me that a male
performer wearing female attire and playing
a female role represents the highest state in
performing arts. This statement has lingered in
my mind for a long time. It made me question
the implications of such a perspective—why is it
that a man embodying a woman is considered
the pinnacle of artistic expression, while the
presence of actual female performers is often
ignored or diminished?