Mariko Sakaguchi's Bathtub Self Portraits (PHOTOS)

There's nothing more relaxing after a long day at the office than taking a dip in a nice, hot bath. Unless of course, you are photographing your naked self sitting in someone else's crowded bedroom, in a hospital, or in the corner while a family relaxes in their living room.

In an arguably gutsy move, photographer Mariko Sakaguchi has embarked on a project called 'One Hundred Views of Bathing,' Through this project, she took photographs of herself in an old-style wooden Japanese bathtub in various public and private locations throughout the city.

The collection mixes tradition and modernity, private and public, the spectator and the artwork with each 'click' of the camera. The playful self-portraits put an interesting spin on the spectacle of the self and the modern urge to divulge intimate details of oneself -- to reveal one's self fully to another in a way that is both controlled and vulnerable.

Our question is, how does she take this bathtub on the go? And is she in any danger of electrocuting herself?

Comments

[Lemag Darqroom]

03:48 AM on 03/06/2012

There is an interview in a french online mag : http://www.lemagdarqroom.com/interview/one-hundred-views-of-bathing-de-mariko-sakaguchi/

[Gator22]

02:37 PM on 01/15/2012

Still waiting for her to fry herself ..Real safe holding an electrical cord in a tub of water..Lol...Very strange pics

[TakeSake]

12:11 AM on 01/15/2012

Hints to exposure time can be found in images 3, 5, 7, 8, 9
3: The fellow on the left moved and made a blurred image. The fellow on the right moved and made a double image.
5: The microphone boom moved and made a double image.
7: The dog on the left moved and made a blurred image. The dog on the right moved and made a double image.
8: The kid with "08" moved and made a double image.
9: The candle flames made double images.

My guess: 1/4 to 1/2 second exposure.

[BoFo]

11:49 PM on 01/14/2012

I think she cheated in slide #3 -- there doesn't appear to be any water in the tub.

[TakeSake]

09:57 PM on 01/14/2012

Everyone in Japan would recognize her work as an allusion to the many series of woodblock prints such as this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Views_of_Mount_Fuji_%28Hokusai%29

[gravityhunter]

05:28 PM on 01/14/2012

"Our question is, how does she take this bathtub on the go?"

You gotta be kidding. Every single one of them was photoshopped into a separate photo- and pretty badly I might add.
#7 is a good example. I give to you, the worlds first semi-transparent dog at the bottom of the tub.

[TakeSake]

09:47 PM on 01/14/2012

Relatively long exposure with an active dog.

[gravityhunter]

11:10 PM on 01/14/2012

Hardly.....

[go2goal]

08:12 PM on 01/15/2012

Photoshop isn't just for Hollywood.

[Elyse Fenstermacher]

05:21 PM on 01/14/2012

I love the one on stage. It feels like a scene from a dream.

[Cory111]

05:06 PM on 01/14/2012

This is a toss up between the tub and the Republican debates, I’ll take the tub!!!

[go2goal]

08:14 PM on 01/15/2012

You got me thinking....let's drown the Republican carnival clowns in the tub and save the country and put them out of their misery!

[Cory111]

09:06 PM on 01/15/2012

You posted: let's drown the Republican carnival clowns in the tub.

Are you willing to waste perfectly good water on this group?

[Jack Wiseley]

04:30 PM on 01/14/2012

Too stewpid.

[jokamachi]

04:29 PM on 01/14/2012

Any country deluged with water is going to produce these kinds of images. The Japanese love their bathtime. Any trip to a public bath house or onsen would be proof enough to a foreigner that has not spent any time within a Japanese family.

In any case, this is my kind of woman..

[ynori]

04:24 PM on 01/14/2012

This is really interesting. It's unusual, but I like it. One thing that strikes me about some of the pictures in the Japanese homes is how similar they are to American homes. The TV, the overstuffed couches, the clutter, the sterile office space, the overgrown yard--these could just as easily be found in America.

[michelesda]

02:17 PM on 01/17/2012

Except that the living spaces look kind of cramped.

[moozungu]

04:22 PM on 01/14/2012

I would have been more impressed if she set up a toilet bowels and took a dump with a roll of TP in her hand...

[blackneck2]

04:22 PM on 01/14/2012

Big deal. I am amazed at what passes as art these days.

[Killjoy]

04:14 PM on 01/14/2012

???????????????? Makes no sense..what a waste of time.

[Bunny Tickle Britches]

03:54 PM on 01/14/2012

Interesting concept, well staged and executed. If I were her, I would have used a wireless trigger and hidden it just inside the tub. That would have increased the feeling of juxtaposition IMHO, but it's still a great series!

[PostModernGuy]

04:08 PM on 01/14/2012

I think that was part of the aesthetic. Without the wire, I would have thought that the tub was photoshopped in. The wire adds authenticity.

[iHaveBadIdeas]

06:26 PM on 01/14/2012

Look at the dog in #7. These are photshop'd.