Big-busted, highly sexualized, but sometimes cute, the female figures in Ryoko Suzuki’s ‘Anikora’ exhibition highlight gender roles, stereotypes and the fetishisation of Japanese women. This thought-provoking solo show is Suzuki’s first in China. 

The women in Suzuki’s images seem still and harmless at first. But with a closer look at their hyper-idealised anime bodies, juxtaposed with eerily realistic facial features, the Japanese dolls come to life.

They wobble between fantasy and reality, as a photograph of Suzuki’s own face is superimposed on curvy anime figures. Using slick digital construction, she has created her own version of anikora, a growing trend among Japanese men in which they construct “idol collages”. The practice usually involves sticking a celebrity’s face on top of a movie star or erotic anime figure's body.

“The Anikora series shows the irony of this masculine desire,” the Sapporo-based artist says. “Over time, the woman’s nude image has been shaped by exposure to men’s glances. With my works, in which I combine my real face with an anonymous woman’s nude, I want to urge people to think about the nude from a man’s eyes.”

Her exhibition arrives in Shanghai at an interesting time. Only two months ago, an United Nations panel slammed Japan over concerns about how the country has dealt with gender equality. The report by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women found that Japan had made “little progress in the past six years”, and urged the government to take “immediate action” to address matters relating to gender discrimination. 

Some of Suzuki's fictional self-portraits are also humorous, another means of confronting prevalent gender clichés.

“In Japan, the reaction to the Anikora exhibition changes greatly depending on age and gender. Generally, women above the age of 50 dislike ‘lewd animation cartoons’ and therefore their hatred towards my work is greater than other peoples. This is simply for visual reasons, not because of the concept of my artwork,” Suzuki says.

But men have reacted differently. Some have a genuine interest in Anikora, but worry about how other people may judge them. Other men feel uncomfortable with Suzuki's appropriation of the form: her mural-sized images can seem intimidating, a contrary feeling in Japan’s male-dominated society.

The artist’s exhibition at Andrew James Art is part of a residency program organised in conjunction with Jia Hotel. Starting in October, the 39 year old spent 30 days working in Shanghai, finding fresh inspiration in the city for her next artistic project.

“I would like to produce photographic work that relates to an old garden of China, with the history of Shanghai as a theme, something outside of my usual field,” Suzuki says. “I think it will be very interesting to have the history of thousands of years and China’s present somehow unified in my artwork.”

Anikora by Ryoko Suzuki, 14 November until 20 December. Andrew James Art, 39 North Maoming Lu, near Yan'an Zhong Lu. Tel: 5288 7550. Web: www.andrewjamesart.com