-new Release- Mayu.hanasaki.i M.13 Years | Old.cocoon.photobook.by.sumiko.kiyooka.40l |top|

The subject is Mayu Hanasaki. She is 13. And she is, quite literally, wrapped in her own world.

Sumiko Kiyooka, known for her ethereal monochrome studies of transitional ages (see her prior series Nijiiro no Yami ), has never shied away from the uncanny valley between girlhood and womanhood. However, with Hanasaki, Kiyooka found a subject who doesn’t just sit for the camera—she converses with it. The subject is Mayu Hanasaki

Of course, any work featuring a 13-year-old girl in intimate, sleeping, or "wrapped" poses will invite scrutiny. But Kiyooka navigates this with a masterclass in ethical photography. There is no leering gaze here. The body is never the point—the threshold is the point. We see Mayu’s scraped knees, her bitten nails, the awkward length of her limbs that she hasn’t grown into yet. It is the opposite of Lolita. It is the celebration of the before . Sumiko Kiyooka, known for her ethereal monochrome studies