Art and DEI Get Cozy at the agnès b. Gallery in Aoyama” 

These are weird times when everyday, the news brings yet another series of incredulous, synapse-shredding headlines. One can’t be so naive as to believe that art will step in and save the world. Yet, at a time when no one and nothing is proffering a magic pill, at least art acts as a biggish band aid to cover the gaping wound. In that spirit, stroll over to the agnès b gallery boutique in Aoyama, Tokyo. From late February until March 23rd, an exhibition called Watashitachino Henji 1975-2025 is on display, showcasing the works of three artists and one performance group, and if you’ll forgive the triteness of the expression, it’s a sight for sore eyes. 

Watashitachino Henji translates to ‘our response,’ and pertains to a short film made in 1975 by French auteur Agnès Varda. Titled Reponse des Femmes: Notre Corps, notre sexe (international title: Women Reply), this 8-minute ‘cine-essay’ sent ripples of shock through French society for the raw honesty of its theme and the frankness of the women who appear in front of Varda’s camera to answer questions about how they view their bodies and their sexuality. Through her film, Varda ponders what it means to be a woman in the heavily conservative and bourgeois French society of the 1970s. 

Half a century later, the artists in Watashitachino... respond to Varda’s film by pondering their own identities. But while Varda had grappled with women’s femininity as a major art theme, Watashitachino… brings a broader perspective to womanhood. Akemi Kouda-Riveau helmer and curator of the agnes b. gallery boutique, says: “At first, we had thought of replicating the title of Varda’s film by calling this exhibition Women’s Reply. Because we felt that 50 years on, not much had changed in society when it comes to women’s rights and gender equality. But upon closer inspection, we discovered that wasn’t true. There was evidence that gave rise to hope and we felt that the exhibition merited a more inclusive and optimistic title.” 

Kouda-Riveau adds that the gallery also preferred not to “unconsciously alienate” men who would otherwise be interested in seeing the exhibition, or putting a gender bias on any of the work. In 1975, Varda had gathered the voices and images of women as an emotionally-charged response toward an abusive and controlling, male dominated society. But now, says Kouda-Riveau, discrimination and inequality is “everyone’s problem, and one that we all need to think about.” 

The exhibition is heavily autobiographical, focussing on individual bodies and experiences while addressing the universal themes of identity and belonging. 

Artist Mari Katayama was born with a bone disease that deprived the use of both legs and a two-fingered left hand. She is known for her self-portrait photos featuring her prosthetic limbs, decorated with her own intricate embroidery and handwork. In the exhibition, Katayama departs from her earlier, girlish and fantastical world to a bolder, more modern expressive form. Her main self-portrait shows her standing, supported by prosthetics that seem minimal compared to the more theatrical prosthetics of her past self-portraits. In the other photos she has no prosthetics at all, and supports herself on a chair. Katayama’s body has never seemed so quietly triumphant or strong, to the point that her physical disability becomes a non-issue. 

Ana Scripcariu-Ochiai is Romanian Japanese mixed media artist. For the exhibition, Scripcariu-Ochiai put together a video and photos entitled “One Who Weaves the Light.” Her theme is displacement, escape and finding a place to call home. Through her art work, Scripcariu-Ochiai loosely tells the tale of three Romanian women artists – the first is a weaver of carpets who could not leave her country or even her village where she worked. The second is a Japanese photographer who visited Romania after the fall of the Berlin Wall and documented the life she found there. The third is the photographer’s daughter, who lives in the chasm between the twin worlds of Japan and Romania, and uses the chasm as a means of artistic expression. 

Erika Kobayashi is an author, illustrator and manga artist who has worked in a wide range of fields including an AC Japan ad campaign entitled ‘I didn’t even know I has a choice,’ depicting the plight of young girls around the world who are forced into child prostitution or marriages. For this exhibition, Kobayashi assembled words, a video and a photograph of a woman’s hand with what appears to be blood dripping on it. Kobayashi’s words recount how she had her first period at the age of 13 and went through the menstrual cycle until, just before she turned 40, a uterine disease terminated that cycle. “Now I don’t see my own blood anymore. But in the news, people are bleeding – men, women, children, and people who don’t fall into any of those categories – they are all bleeding. But I never see my own blood anymore.” 

The performance artist group Tokyo QQQxEBIZAZEN put on what they call a “life-as-you-live-it” performance. A nine-member group who defies gender and conventional ideas of normalcy., they challenged the spectators to “revel in the extraordinary” by witnessing their bodies. Some were trans, others were cisgender. One man was in a wheelchair and a woman was about 3 feet high. They were all celebratory and self-deprecating of themselves at the same time. Ultimately, they were there to tell their own stories. A prominent member of the group was Aoi Yamada, who is now the Japanese art critic’s darling. Yamada had a role in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days (2023) and she’s also one of the fashion muses for the agnès b. clothing brand. 

Speaking of which, this year marks the 42nd anniversary of Parisian designer Agnès Troublé in Japan. Troublé herself used to be a leftist activist, who marched in rallies in Paris with her twin babies strapped to her body. Her brand agnès b has an enduring fan base in Japan, with the most number of outlets in the world. The exhibition on the second floor of the agnès b. building meshes perfectly with the aesthetics of the clothing on display downstairs so it would be wise to stroll through all the floors. 

All photos by Kaori Shoji