M+ to open Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades,the first exhibition to bring together the photographic works of Yasumasa Morimura (Japanese, born 1951) and Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954), who rethink identity through staged photographs across time, place, and culture.
Both use masquerade as an artistic strategy to explore the relationships between identity, mass media, and history. The exhibition will open to the public on Saturday, 14th December 2024 in the Cissy Pui-Lai Pao and Shinichiro Watari Galleries in M+.
Masquerade is the act of manipulating one’s appearance and behaviour—through costumes, makeup, props, and body language—to temporarily become someone else. Since the 1970s and 1980s, Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman have both drawn inspiration from iconic figures and female archetypes in popular culture and art history, creating staged photographs that explore the construction of identities from their respective cultures and contexts.
Presented as part of the Pao-Watari Exhibition Series, Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades includes works from significant early series by each artist, tracing the origins of their practices of reimagining iconic imagery from the fields of art, cinema, and mass media.
Yasumasa Morimura says,
‘It is a remarkable opportunity to be exhibited alongside Cindy Sherman at M+ in Hong Kong. Our artistic approaches, while distinct, challenge notions of identity and representation. I am eager to see how our works, rooted in different cultural contexts, will resonate with visitors in a dynamic city like Hong Kong.’
Cindy Sherman says,
‘I am thrilled to have my work shown at M+ with Yasumasa Morimura. We have different ways of exploring identity and media culture, and I look forward to seeing how audiences in Hong Kong will interpret our works.’
The exhibition features four suites of images, which range from whimsical to darkly satirical, that question gender and cultural conventions. They invite us to think critically about the roles we play in life and the influences that make us who we are:
Cindy Sherman’s The Centerfolds series (1981) includes a selection of seven photographs that were originally a commission by the contemporary art periodical Artforum. As a response to the magazine’s format, Sherman made a set of twelve images that resemble the centerfolds of mid-twentieth-century erotic magazines. The artist stages herself in various vulnerable poses, evoking fear, anxiety, and other heightened emotions. These high-angle, close-up shots were taken using exaggerated lighting and intense colour saturation. By taking control of the image, Sherman turns the portrayal of women as objects without agency on its head, raising difficult questions about the ethics of looking.
Yasumasa Morimura’s One Hundred M’s Self-portraits series (1993–2000) shows the artist masquerading as a wide range of celebrities and historical figures, from Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn to Madonna and even Cindy Sherman herself. Some photographs from the series show Morimura posing confidently on the streets of Japan, while others are set in his studio with props, creating an intriguing relationship between the figure and its surroundings. Morimura spent seven years on this series, a prolonged exploration of how to fully embody different personas. By also showing how he staged these scenes, he reveals how identity is constructed. This was a deeply personal investigation for Morimura, undertaken at a time when Japanese society was wrestling with the question of Western influence.
Yasumasa Morimura’s Doublonnage series (1987–1988) showcases the artist’s eccentric sense of humour as he impersonates famous cultural and historical figures. In these early works, he imitates cultural figures that were significant to him growing up in postwar Japan, when he was first learning about Western art history. These icons include Saint John the Baptist, whose beheading is a recurring subject in Renaissance painting; Rrose Sélavy, the female alter ego of French conceptual artist Marcel Duchamp; and modernist dancer-choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. ‘Doublonnage’ is a term Morimura coined to describe his masquerading. The original Japanese term alludes to a sense of foolish replication.
Cindy Sherman’s Untitled Film Stills series (1977–1980) look like stills taken directly from black-and-white films at first glance. They are however invented scenes, inspired by film noir, Hollywood B movies, and European art-house cinema, all starring the artist herself. Sherman satirises the gendered tropes often found in such genres: the career woman, the femme fatale, the lonely housewife, the ingénue in the big city. She portrays these stereotypes with an uncanny irony that asks us to consider how women are represented in art and pop culture, an issue that is just as relevant today.
Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, discussing the significance of this exhibition, says,
‘Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades is the first two-person exhibition showcasing the staged photography of Morimura and Sherman. It aligns with M+’s vision to present exhibitions that push the boundaries of contemporary visual culture, fostering cross-cultural dialogue between two iconic artists whose practices elevate photography as a conceptual art form. Visitors will have the rare opportunity to explore the complexities of identity and representation through the unique lenses of these two artists.’
Isabella Tam, Curator, Visual Art, M+, says,
‘Morimura’s and Sherman’s distinctive approaches to portraiture have redefined contemporary photography. Both artists are recognised for their visual and conceptual strategies of masquerade, transforming their appearances to portray multiple identities that offer incisive commentary on contemporary culture and history. The exhibition not only highlights their individual practices but also invites the audience to contemplate the relationship between photography, contemporary society, and the representation of identity in new and profound ways.’
To mark the opening of the exhibition, M+ will host an opening ceremony tonight with the attendance of Bernard Chan, Chairman of the M+ Board; Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+; Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+; Isabella Tam, Curator, Visual Art, M+; and Yasumasa Morimura, the artist.
Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades, 14th Dec 2024- 5th May 2025 M+
Public programmes
M+ will present free public talk The Art of Masquerade: In Conversation with Yasumasa Morimura and Isabella Tam on Saturday, 14 December, 2024. Yasumasa Morimura and exhibition curator Isabella Tam will embark on a conversation about the artist’s exploration of the relationships between identity, mass media, and history through the act of masquerade and how his portraiture series reveals the development of his artistic approach. The talk will be conducted in English and Japanese with simultaneous interpretation available in Cantonese and English. For more information, please visit M+ website.
Exhibition merchandise
To accompany the exhibition’s opening, M+ Shop offers a selection of merchandise inspired by the iconic photographic works of Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman, including postcards featuring their most celebrated pieces. The merchandise will be available for purchase at the M+ Shop on the ground floor of the museum or online.
Ticketing arrangements
Visitors with General Admission tickets can access Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades starting Saturday, 14 December 2024 alongside M+ Sigg Collection: Another Story, Things, Spaces, Interactions, Making It Matters, Shanshui: Echoes and Signals, and Yang Jiechang: Hundred Layers of Ink at L2. The General Admission ticket is HKD 120 for adults and HKD 60 for visitors eligible for concessions*.
Tickets to the Special Exhibitions I. M. Pei: Life Is Architecture and/or Guo Pei: Fashioning Imagination include access to all General Admission galleries. Package tickets for both Special Exhibitions are HKD 240 for adults and HKD 120 for visitors eligible for concessions*. Visitors can enjoy both Special Exhibitions on the same day along with access to all General Admission exhibitions. Tickets are available for online purchase via the M+ website, WestK website, WestK App, Cityline, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited, Klook, KKday, and Trip.com. For more information on M+ ticket arrangements, please visit the M+ website.
*Concession tickets are available for full-time students, children aged 7 to 11, senior citizens aged 60 or above, persons with disabilities and one companion, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients.
M+ Membership
M+’s annual membership and patron membership offer an exclusive experience of contemporary visual culture for people of all ages and backgrounds. M+ Members and Patrons can enjoy unlimited General Admission access, including Yasumasa Morimura and Cindy Sherman: Masquerades. Meanwhile, M+ Patrons can enjoy unlimited admission to all exhibitions with up to three guests per visit. Other membership benefits include three free admission vouchers to Special Exhibitions throughout the membership year, exclusive access to the M+ Lounge, M+ Private Viewing, priority ticket purchase, exclusive events, and more. For more information, please visit the M+ website.
About Yasumasa Morimura
Yasumasa Morimura (Japanese, born 1951) is a leading contemporary artist whose conceptual practice encompasses photography, film, and performance. His emergence in the Osaka art scene coincided with the Kansai New Wave, when young artists in western Japan began experimenting with new media and vibrant forms of expression. Morimura superimposes himself onto important works from art history, iconic historical scenes, and famous figures from mass media. Through intricate props and digital manipulation, he explores themes of identity, authorship, and the complex relationships between Japan, Asia, and the West.
Morimura’s work gained international recognition through several major exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (1988); Against Nature: Japanese Art in the Eighties (1989–1991), which toured venues across the United States; and Japanese Art After 1945: Scream Against the Sky (1994–1995), which opened at the Yokohama Museum of Art before traveling to New York and San Francisco. He was the artistic director of the Yokohama Triennale in 2014.
About Cindy Sherman
Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954) is one of the most influential artists of the past half century. She rose to prominence in the late 1970s with the Pictures Generation, a name given to a group of American artists known for their critical analysis of media culture. Sherman uses her photographic portraits to comment on stereotyped female identities, portraying herself as characters inspired by cinema, fashion magazines, art history, and, most recently, social media. Her early works satirise the gendered tropes of Hollywood and European films while revealing the mechanics of their production, while her latest series explores issues related to class and aging, utilising theatrical effects, photographic techniques, and digital technology.
Sherman’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at institutions around the world, including the Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2024); the Serralves Museum, Porto (2022–2023); the National Portrait Gallery, London (2019); and theMuseum of Modern Art, New York, which travelled to venues across the United States (2012–2013). She has also participated in numerous international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2013, 2011, 1995); the Gwangju Biennale (2010); and documenta, Kassel (1982).
About M+
M+ is a museum dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK), it is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary visual culture in the world, with a bold ambition to establish ourselves as one of the world’s leading cultural institutions. M+ is a new kind of museum that reflects our unique time and place, a museum that builds on Hong Kong’s historic balance of the local and the international to define a distinctive and innovative voice for Asia’s twenty-first century.
