Fuyuhiko Takata’s Totem Pole of Women

Frida Kahlo, Madonna, Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, and Aung San Suu Kyi are not women who normally share a discursive space; yet, all known for more or less laudable acts, they are all women cited for their power or personality in a world where gender equality is not yet a given. They are also the women selected by artist Fuyuhiko Takata to feature in the video WE ARE THE WOMEN.

Born in 1987 in Hiroshima, Fuyuhiko Takata studied at Tokyo University of the Arts. His work includes video, performance, and photography, treating themes of religion, myth, gender, and Yaoi manga focusing on gay culture.

A fight for gender equality

Guided by the synthesised voice of his own mother, a dedicated feminist, Fuyuhiko Takata assembles the heads of these historically significant women in WE ARE THE WOMEN. Over the course of 24.28 minutes, the artist, represented as as deity, assembles a totem pole that he tries to balance. The name of each woman is read out by his mother, while the artist uses his feet to pick up each head with great difficulty. When it’s Patti Smith’s turn, the precarious tower topples.

Reiko Tsubaki, curator of the Mori Art Museum, in a text accompanying the 2019 exhibition MAM Screen 011, describes the work as follows: ‘the totem pole that approaches completion, just to end up falling short, appears to be an allusion to the continued existence, due to gender inequality, of limitations and difficulties that women face in attempting to take their place in contemporary society, despite the progress made in the liberation and empowerment of women.’

The humorous tone and the pop aesthetics employed by Fuyuhiko Takata allow the artist to address various contemporary questions in an unconventional, absurd, and captivating way. Among his other works, JAPAN ERECTION (2010) made waves, with a video and performance based on the idea that the Japanese archipelago resembles male genitalia lying right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

The original idea behind WE ARE THE WOMEN was to have the role of the deity played by the artist’s mother; however, she was unable to take on the role due to her health. Nevertheless, the following year the artist published a series of photographs entitled TOP OF THE MOTHERS (2014).

WE ARE THE WOMEN (2013) is a video by Fuyuhiko Takata and is available on his Youtube channel.