by Bronwyn Watson
A JAPANESE woman, soaking in a
wooden bathtub, tears open a condom package with her teeth, her gesture
re-enacting that of a traditional courtesan biting on a cloth to
symbolise unrequited passion.
This image of a geisha could well originate from 19th-century
Japanese master Utagawa Kunisada, reflecting Japan's tradition of
erotica in its ukiyo-e woodblock prints.
Yet AIDS Series/Geisha
in Bath is a 20th-century picture with a very contemporary theme that
makes its impact by pushing the boundaries.
The geisha, for
instance, is surrounded by Japanese text that replicates her thoughts
about the condom. In translation, the calligraphy reads: "It won't open,
no scissors, and I don't want to borrow from next door. Well, I'll open
it with my teeth ... oooh, what's that smell - spermicide? Slippery
too. This must be extra-large export size. It sure won't fit my
boyfriend!"
AIDS Series/Geisha in Bath is by Masami Teraoka, who was born in
Japan in 1936 but is an American citizen who lives in Hawaii. In the
late 1980s Teraoka began his AIDS series in reaction to learning that a
friend's baby had contracted the disease from a blood transfusion.
Commenting on this, Teraoka wrote: "I had to take a deep breath to
confront my friend's painful isolation. For the first time, I understood
that AIDS was not someone else's problem."
Teraoka's experience
with AIDS significantly changed his art practice and through his work he
expressed his sense of personal betrayal, according to Catharine Clark
in Ascending Chaos: The Art of Masami Teraoka 1966-2006. For Teraoka,
gone was the sexual freedom of the 60s and instead he felt betrayed by
the AIDS virus, which transformed life-affirming touch into potentially
life-threatening contact.
image: Detail from Masami Teraoka's AIDS Series/Geisha in Bath (1988). Watercolour on canvas, 274.3cm x 205.7cm.
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