Muse: Uncovering the Hidden Figures Behind Art History's Masterpieces by Ruth Millington

Author:Ruth Millington [Millington, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781639361564
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2022-05-03T00:00:00+00:00

PERFORMING MUSE

MORO Homemade Sushi

Nyotaimori, translated as ‘female body arrangement’, is the Japanese tradition of eating sushi from the skin of a naked woman. Rolls of raw fish and edible seaweed cover the completely shaved model, who must lie perfectly still and silent, sometimes for hours at a time. The practice has its origins in the Edo Period, when these human platters would be offered in geisha houses to victorious Samurai warriors returning from battle.

In 2010, Chinese artist Pixy Liao took this sensual sushi tradition and turned it on its head. In the photograph Homemade Sushi, Liao has framed her dark-haired Japanese boyfriend, Takahiro ‘Moro’ Morooka, lying motionless and naked on his front, arms by his side, on a stripped white bed. Beneath him is a bundle of strategically folded bedding, which has been bound to his body with a ribbon of green mesh to evoke the appearance of seaweed. Liao’s model, who looks directly at the camera, has been transformed into a life-sized sushi roll.

Homemade Sushi belongs to a wider series, entitled ‘Experimental Relationship’, in which Moro is seen in a variety of vulnerable poses, either half or fully naked, in the couple’s home or hotel rooms, with natural light falling through windows to illuminate the scenes. Liao uses photography to explore her personal relationship with Moro, who is five years younger than her and the more submissive partner – a fact they both acknowledge.

In each of the staged images Moro, who refers to himself as a ‘house husband’, appears acquiescent to the more autonomous artist. At times, Moro appears alone – in one photograph he wears only a blue T-shirt, which clings to a silver railing by a wooden hanger, making him appear to dangle in front of the camera. In others, Moro is held, carried by or even draped across the shoulders of his petite girlfriend, who sports a short, sharp bob of black hair. Frequently, she is clothed; he is not.

The couple met while studying at the University of Memphis. In fact, it was on their very first day – at an orientation for international graduate students – that Liao recalls first seeing her muse-to-be: ‘Moro left a deep impression on me when I saw him. Not knowing where he was from, I only knew he was a music student at that time. He attracted me.’ Liao and Moro’s meet cute echoes legends of art history in which male artists choose female models for their beauty.

One year later, Liao ran into Moro again on campus and immediately asked him to be her model, revealing, ‘It was only my excuse to know him.’ Moro agreed and she began to photograph him for various university projects. However, responses from fellow students and staff took the artist somewhat by surprise: ‘It was not until my classmates and teachers wondered how it was possible for a boyfriend to pose so willingly for my photos, sometimes naked or in very unflattering situations, that I realised that our relationship was uncommon to other people.

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