The following slideshow was inspired by Greenaway's movie THE PILLOWBOOK.

Like all recent Greenaway epics it was totally incomprehensible but a visual feast. I thought the lead actress, who was Chinese, reminded me of my model Chelsea. Chelsea then rented the video because she was curious and loved the idea of having Japanese characters painted on her skin.

This is a central theme of the movie.

The Japanese Language department of my university advised me not to try the characters myself (because it would look amateurish and undermine the credibility of the images). So we met Hiroko the calligrapher, an incredibly sweet and serene soul who made the shoot an absolute delight.

I have not tried to reproduce any of the film - which was brilliantly lit and designed - just the simple intimacy and sensuality of writing these beautiful characters on skin (with a touch of cross-cultural sisterhood).

Slideshow

I have constructed a little slideshow of the images with explanatory text here. If a slow connection is causing trouble with the java there is an html version here.

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