What a Woman Made

1973, 10:50 min, b&w, sound

In Idemitsu's seminal feminist video, the image of a tampon swirling in a toilet bowl slowly appears, as the artist speaks about the troubling roles, responsibilities and expectations of women in a clinical tone. Minimal in composition, What a Woman Made is a candid critique of the treatment of women in Japanese society.

Mako Idemitsu creates video narratives that examine female identity within the contemporary Japanese family. Echoing and subverting the popular melodramas of Japanese television, her work applies a feminist critique to the strict gender roles that shape mother-child and husband-wife relationships. Her works, which have been exhibited internationally, include Hideo, It's Me Mama (1983) and the Great Mother series (1983).

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2010, 162 min, color and b&w, sound