Izima Kaoru

(Japanese, born 1954)

Izima Kaoru is a Japanese photographer, best known for his photographs melding the subjects of death, celebrity, sexuality, and fashion. His most widely recognized body of work is Landscapes with a corpse, comprising of famous female actresses and models the artist invites to imagine their own deaths, which he subsequently stages for the camera while his subjects pose in high-fashion garments. Kaoru’s more recent work deals with the ovular trajectory of the sun in the sky, captured though a long-exposure, a project which the New York Photo Review described as “a primal experience, and yet one that can only be visualized through the use of photography.” Born in 1954 in Kyoto, Japan, his first exhibition, “It’s a Beautiful Day,” was held in 1977, and his work has since been featured in the collections of museums such as the Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean in Luxembourg.