From January 26th till February 7th, 2015 – Vanilla Gallery is hosting Naoko Tachibana‘s solo photography exhibition comprising the images she has been capturing for the last six years. Naoko Tachibana is a cross-dressers’ photographer, stylist, and makeup artist. By displaying her earlier works along with her latest ones, the viewers can witness the evolution of her understanding of gender and beauty through her involvement in the cross-dressing culture. This exhibition will make people question their views on cross-dressing, gender, beauty, and happiness.

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Trajectory of Cross-Dressing and Theory of Happiness

Naoko Tachibana

Monday, January 26th – Saturday, February 7th, 2015

Vanilla Gallery

Admission: 500yen

How did you become a professional photographer? Are you a formally-trained photographer or self-taught?

I never went to a photography school, and I have never had a professional photographer as a mentor either. But, after coordinating numerous gravure photo shoots, I learned how to become a photographer and started my own photography business.

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How do you describe your photographic style?

I’m a portrait photographer. And, in many cases, I successfully bring out and capture my models’ unconscious desires.

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What genre(s) of photography do you specialize in?

I specialize in photographing cross-dressers and sexual minorities. Most of my artwork documents the lives of cross-dressers and LGBT people.

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How do you choose your models? And what kind of models do you prefer to work with?

I prefer to work with unusual, extraordinary, and socially outcast individuals. I’m greatly inspired by my collaboration with them; and through this collaboration, I’m able to create bizarre/unusual images.

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Do you only work with models and performers?

No, I usually work with “regular people”. I’ve photographed a few hundred of them.

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To you, what is a good photograph? How did you decide which photographs to display in this exhibition?

A good photograph captures people’s attention. It might grab people’s attention for various reasons. It could be because it evokes sympathy, disgust, wistful desire, etc. It all depends depends on the viewers’ mindsets. For this exhibition, I chose photographs that can give the viewers – whether or not they are familiar with cross-dressing – a new perspective.

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Will you tell me more about your exhibition at Vanilla Gallery?

For this exhibition, I feature as many kinds of Japanese cross-dressing culture as possible, every single kind I could think of: Beautiful cross-dressing boy, transvestite, shemale like those on shemalehd.sex, various types of mix gender couples, mature cross-dresser, foreigners, and bearded cross-dresser. I also feature each model’s comments – in English and Japanese – along with the photographs. By reading their confessions, people will notice that these are people with different perspectives and complex problems.

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Is there any theme or concept your overseas fans might miss when they view your works?

Recently, in Japan, cross-dressing has become more commonplace than before; and therefore, more acceptable as fashion and cosplay than it used to be. Also, (Japanese) people are starting to be aware that male cross-dressers are not necessarily homosexuals.

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Lastly, do you have any message for Beautiful Bizarre readers?

It is unfair for society to assign particular gender roles that dictate how people should lead their lives. People should always be true to themselves and live the lives that lead them to happiness.

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