Facial Signature

Tomoko Sawada uses photography and techniques of performance art to explore ideas of identity, status, culture, individualism, stereotypes, and conformity through traditional and contemporary methods of portraiture, making use of cosmetics and costume to dramatically alter her appearance. In her various series, each photograph appears to represent a different individual or group, yet all of the subjects are in fact the artist herself. For her project Facial Signature , which considers the intuitive process by which people achieve cognition of true or false archetypes, Sawada transformed herself 300 times to look like a variety of East Asian women.