ASANO Miyabi
Aoibotan (Mallow Peony)
2024
MediumInkjet print, opaque white ink, book, etc.
DimensionsDIMENSION VARIABLE
Aoibotan consists of four elements: a framed frontispiece, a framed manga page, a newspaper clipping, and a bound volume propped on a shelf. The article, dated 1974, reports the killing of a man in an apartment building in Nagoya. The suspects are two women: Ichinose Aoi, a jokyū (café hostess), and Mashiro Botan, a student. The manga Aoibotan presents itself as based on this case. The newspaper page was assembled digitally; the photograph of the building was generated by AI. Both suspects’ faces are the artist’s own. The frontispiece and the manga page were drawn digitally, printed, and painted with opaque white ink. The two women from the frontispiece appear on the cover.