平野 友梨加(Hirano Yurika)

These works with the mask of the fair are a series that Kayo Hatano continues to create. She mixed multiple internal and external images of her acquaintances. The person’s name of each title is also a combination of the names of multiple acquaintances. Not only the person wearing a mask but also the design of the mask itself is slightly arranged from the ready-made products to match the acquaintance’s image. This leads to clearly reproducing the school stereotypes where the acquaintances communicate with the newly created personality. And then, the difference between the school stereotypes she has actually recognised and experienced and viewers have experienced can be reaffirmed. Therefore, she has been creating these works with the masks for the correction of cognitive distortion to the school stereotypes where she has been feeling complex since school days. The composition and the background are based on the graduation photo and the student ID photo. The reason why the background is light blue is that it is the background colour of such photos, but another reason is that she wanted to express the difference between the clear blue sky and the image of people who are not just bright. Moreover, the motif of the mask that covers the face is very secure for her. The reason is that she can see people around her through a transparent plastic cover and small holes of the mask while hiding her gaze toward the people around. The mask is like a translucent shelter that does not completely cut her off from the world around her but hides her with moderate thinness, softness and transparency.

About Yurika Hirano: she is modelled on the centre of a Japanese idol group. She is very attractive because she has mysterious darkness that a lonely woman who is like adolescence feels. She has a struggle with herself who becomes adults while having a grudge against adults.