In Touch: 1/4 VE

This is the first print from a Variable Edition of four.  A variable edition means that each print is unique although they all have some elements in common.  The print is based on a photo of a 20th Century Japanese geisha, or geiko as they are called in Kyoto.

Western culture has generally confused the idea of a geisha with our understanding of a courtesan who offers sexual services as well as physical beauty and companionship.  This is not part of the geisha's culture.  She is regarded and revered as a work of art - for her beauty, her theatrical,conversational and musical skills. Geishas "are artists. It takes years of rigorous training to become a geisha.They are paid for sophisticated entertainment, dance, playing traditional instruments, singing. Some speak foreign languages as well." (Internet) The swirls and blocks on the print are intended to  represent some of these attributes.  The red lips are always small as they are intended to create the illusion of a flower bud.

What I find most fascinating in this is the regard for the women who are geishas in a culture where women have been considered subservient, secondary to men.  In the culture of the geisha it would seem men are in the lesser position. As Shoba Narayan says in her article for Condé Nast, "...they [geishas] occupy a rarefied realm in which women are both divas and directors."

The title In Touch is accompanied by a short Haiku:

Flying hands fall                                                                                                                                                                         To roost on silk folded knees                                                                                                                                       Sound ended.