Sachiko abe biography of albert

Sachiko Abe’s work encompasses performance, drawing, film and sculptural installations using cut papers accumulated over the last seven years. Her practice explores duration, repetition and constraints.

This is a paradox, as she first started creating artworks after leaving the Self-Defense Forces in Japan because ‘the life of artists seemed so free’.

Her work since has explored the regimes of subjectivity that are imposed by society, most explicitly in her series of performance works, Elevator Girl Friend, in which she contravened the conventional behaviour of the demure elevator assistants employed by big department stores.

Abe comments: ‘While the job sounds boring, it was a “dream job” for young girls because it was believed then that only the most beautiful and elegant person could be assigned to be an elevator girl.’

Her more recent works continue to explore disquieting routines that provoke anxiety and touch us in ways we cannot explain.

Cut Papers is a ser