Known for her unique self-portrait methods, SAWADA Tomoko creates
artwork exploring disparities and connections between inner self and
outward image. In Sign / YELLOW MUSTARD (2012), which she created
for a group exhibition at the Andy Warhol Museum, she sent out a call
on Facebook in order to translate the well known product label into 56
languages. Labels, like human faces, have different “expressions” in different
languages. In FACIAL SIGNATURE (2015), she transforms herself into
many different East Asian women. How should these multiple portraits
be interpreted? Social and cultural codes formed through differences and
repetition are revealed in this work.

FACIAL SIGNATURE , 2015 (detail) / Chromogenic print /
Taguchi Art Collection / Courtesy of MEM, Tokyo