TAYUTAI

TAYUTAI is a series created by the artist Yuko Arai which explores the tension between being oneself and becoming who society expects us to be. Drawing on research with women living in Japan and the UK, as well as Yuko's own experience, the work reflects on the invisible pressures that shape how women see themselves and how they learn to exist. In one survey, 73% of participants reported experiencing gendered expectations either often or sometimes - revealing how widely these pressures were shared. I worked with Yuko on the photographic elements of the project, using analogue and digital techniques to create a series of still life and dynamic portraits capturing the different emotions states that came from Yuko’s research.