Onebyfourbynine

The Ekoi Bride, Nigeria. Self-portrait, 2005

The Bride King of Vicus (North of Peru, 1,800-1,300 years before present) with Gold Ear Ornaments (Quimbaya, Columbia, 1,000-800 years before present) and a Gold Pectoral (Muisca, Columbia, 2,100-1,900 years before present). Self-portrait, 2005

The Cowrie Bride, Yoruba. Self-portrait, 2005

The Silver Berber Bride, Morocco, early XXth Century. Self-portrait, 2005

Kimiko Yoshida is my favorite portrait artist.

Born and raised in Japan, she moved to France in 1995 and has been focusing on a mesmerizing series of selfportraits - more than 150 to date - dressed as brides of various cultures throughout history. She is an amazon warrior, she is an inca goddess clad with gold, she is an ancient african deity hiding behind a tribal mask... Her works are not selfportraits per se - the images are not about her, but rather portraits of different identities that create an universal, timeless persona. She is in her own world beyond cultures, time and space, and I love the textures of her simple yet complex images. She's my buddha of photography.

"Igawa Haruka wears Dolce Gabbana", 2003

"Koike Eiko wears Gianni Versace“, 2004

"Natsuki Mari wears Luisa Beccaria", 2003

"Tomosaka Rie wears Mio Mio", 2003

"UA wears Toga", 2003

Born in Kyoto in 1954, fashion photographer Kaoru Izima is also the founder and editor-in-chief of former fashion magazine "Zyappu" (the Japanese pronunciation of derogatory term "Jap"). Zyappu was the first and only magazine in Japan to feature all its text in western characters instead of the traditional kanjis, and also where he initiated is series 'Landscapes with a Corpse". He invites Japanese (and sometime European) actresses, singers and models to imagine and stage their own fantasied perfect death, while - let's stay practical - choosing which designer clothes they would like to wear. The "beauty of death" is so much romanced and deeply ingrained in Japanese culture that this seems done without any irony or conscious sense of morbidity - or at least, not in a shocking, socially unacceptable way. In Japan he's just fashion; in the West he's probably perceived as a rebellious artist using luxury brands to make metaphysical statements about death and consumerism...

Still, it's the film-like quality of the images that really appeal to me. Each scene usually alternates multiple viewpoints - long shots with the body seen from afar on a road, a bridge, or an empty street, and close-ups from different angles reminiscent of forensic photos. The lack of obvious elements about what happened keeps making me look closer in search for hidden clues.

Via Japan-Photo.

I love Mona Kuhn's portraits. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, of German descent, and currently living in Los Angeles, she explains she shot all the images of her Evidence series in a community in France, where she resides each summer. You often hear how important having the trust of the people you photograph is and I can totally see it here. These are some of the most subtle and relaxed portraits I've seen - each image seems to tell a story of its own, and I find the natural settings and the quality of the light very refreshing. She explains more about a work in a video interview on her website here.

"Gyruss 1"

"Gyruss Bonus Round"

"Tempest 1"

I like Rosemarie Fiore's retro video games project: "These photographs are long exposures taken while playing video war games of the 80's created by Atari, Centuri and Taito. The photographs were shot from video game screens while I played the games. By recording each second of an entire game on one frame of film, I captured complex patterns not normally seen by the eye."