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.’
From this point, Liao began to use photography to examine their atypical romantic relationship, in which the woman is the dominant, agentic partner. As the artist has shared, her photos ‘explore the alternative possibilities of heterosexual relationships… What will happen if man and woman exchange their roles of sex and roles of power?’ Nowhere is the couple’s inverted dynamic clearer than in Homemade Sushi in which Moro acts as a piece of raw fish to be consumed by the female photographer on the other side of the lens.
Liao reflects that her photographs are, in part, a ‘rebellion against the society I’m living in’. The idea of a younger and more submissive male partner in a heterosexual relationship is still considered unusual in Western culture; but the couple’s relationship contrasts even more sharply with the expected partnership between a man and woman in China: ‘In China, it’s common for men to be older and women younger in a heterosexual relationship. In a family, the husband is usually the head of the household and the wife takes care of the domestic affairs.’ Given her heritage and upbringing, Liao ‘always thought’ that she ‘needed to find a boyfriend or husband who was older and more mature, who would also act as a life mentor.’
In Relationships work best when each partner knows their proper place (2008), Liao is clearly subverting the expectations of Chinese culture: the couple stand next to one another in front of three windows shuttered by white blinds. While Moro wears only white underpants and sandals, Liao is fully dressed – in a smart red blouse, pinstriped trousers and red shoes. Moreover, while Moro stands still and looks at his partner, she extends her right hand, with painted red nails, to pinch one of his nipples.
In such erotically charged photographs Liao confronts patriarchal images from art history, too. This image was inspired by the famously odd painting Gabrielle d’Estrées et une de ses sœurs (c.1594). The anonymous masterpiece portrays two women, Gabrielle d’Estrées, mistress of King Henry IV of France, and her sister, sitting in a bathtub and naked from the waist up; they half-turn towards the viewer, who can see the hand of the woman on the left pinching the nipple of the woman on the right.
In parallel with the painting, Liao has framed the viewer in a deliberately voyeuristic position, offering them an insight into this intimate moment. However, there is a clear distinction between Liao’s version and the original artwork: in her photograph, it’s the male sitter who has been turned into a sexualised object, touched by his female partner. Liao protests art history’s conventional representation of females as passive sites of desire to be painted by male artists, which conceptualises and reinforces expected gender roles.
Liao has also set the scene up as a piece of comedic performance; a long-handled red dustpan stands to Moro’s right, adding a droll and playful tone to the photograph. ‘Humour is one of the key elements in my photos because I have to enjoy the process in order to work. But I also think that humour is a powerful tool.’ As with all of the best jokes, she uses comedy to confront taboo topics and uncomfortable truths. If we return to Moro dressed as a sushi roll, Liao is attacking the sexist tradition of Nyotaimori, in which women become a dressed table from which guests dine; she is simultaneously challenging stereotypes of Asian culture, which are packaged up and sold to Western consumers.
Liao’s photographs are undeniably performative, and Moro is active in the dramatic process. As he has explained: ‘Pixy usually has the basic idea of an image first, like plots, framing and how we pose. But from there, we usually improvise based on the first idea.’ Through playful props, exaggerated costumes and make-up – particularly red-painted nails, which Liao often models – Liao articulates to the viewer that these photographs are somewhat constructed in their exhibitionism. ‘Experimental Relationship’ is quite evidently a parody of domestic bliss, in which a woman is the homemaker, creating a warm and tidy space for her achieving husband to return to.
However, Liao’s images are also poignant; they tread a fine line between truth and theatricality. Liao sees the works as a legitimate exploration of her personal experiences and ‘a notebook of my thoughts on intimate relationships’. The physical closeness between artist and model in the images elucidates the depth of feeling Liao has towards her boyfriend, who provides her with inspiration: ‘Moro is definitely my muse. I am so fortunate to have him in my life. I think a muse is someone who inspires you constantly. It’s important that you have strong feelings, emotions and desires for this person in order to have him or her as your muse.’
Moro doesn’t necessarily see himself as a muse, shrugging off the term: ‘I’m just an ordinary Japanese guy.’ It is this quality to Moro, who appears as a regular boyfriend, that shatters the otherwise mundane scenes of a man and woman at home together. Appearing as an everyman figure, Moro also allows viewers to see themselves in the situation; these images can be read as a metaphor for all heterosexual couples for whom there is a possibility to break out of expected gender roles.
The ongoing collaboration between artist and muse continues to evolve and it has impacted upon the couple’s personal dynamic. In Liao’s words, ‘The project also reinforced my leading role in our relationship. And when I look at these photos, I will reflect on my position in our relationship and sometimes make changes. And the changes in our relationship will further give me new ideas for the project.’ At the same time, Moro gains pleasure from his role as Liao’s muse: ‘I do enjoy being photographed.’
There are layers of meaning to Liao’s forthright ‘Experimental Relationship’. Firstly, these photographs offer a clear commentary on the couple’s real relationship; Liao and Moro honour the camera with truth, broadcasting their intimate dynamic through posed pictures. Liao’s images also act as a visual protest against patriarchal power structures, which have come to define male–female partnerships. Using Moro as her muse, Liao demonstrates and celebrates an alternative version of the ways in which a relationship can work between a man and a woman.
Liao’s art has received plenty of negative criticism, particularly from older Chinese men. However, she is increasingly finding that people are positive towards her images: ‘Take my father, for example – in the beginning, he was worried that this type of work would bring me trouble in China and would hide it from other relatives and friends. But now he truly enjoys my work and sometimes he would even request some particular work and share it proudly among his circle.’
Liao shows us that art and its muses – even ‘ordinary Japanese guys’ – have the power to challenge expected societal structures, shatter reductive stereotypes and change prevailing opinions.