This body of work, PORNOHAGIOGRAPHY, synthesizes the seemingly opposing concepts of the sacred and the profane/pornographic using historical and contemporary idolatry as a point of fusion. The media culture of contemporary Japan is constructed around such “idols:” versatile performers who jump between media, never remaining confined to one in particular. While use of the term “idol” is not limited to Japan (celebrities are idolized the world over), its meaning in Japan’s media culture specifically references performers with public personas that are manufactured to appeal to particular audiences. These idols appear in advertising, pop music, television, and pornography. They don’t exist apart from the videos, magazines, and ephemera that depict them: there may be a human performer, but she is simply a conduit who channels the idol’s affective charisma.
These concepts are engaged using baroque imagery and methods. The intertextuality and theatricality of the historical baroque parallels the transmediality and artificiality of the contemporary idol.