we smile when we want to

This project unfolded in response to public comments made against Shiori Ito, a Japanese journalist and filmmaker who won a high-profile civil lawsuit against Noriyuki Yamaguchi, her alleged rapist, in December 2019. Following the ruling, Yamaguchi continued to attack the validity of Ito’s claim by telling reporters that “real sexual assault victims do not smile at press conferences.”

I interviewed 11 people in Tokyo about their relationship to smiling, consent, and gaze, and took their portraits: whether smiling or un-smiling. Here, in this project, subjects claim flexibility inside a photograph, however public or private, and in their own words, narrate .

Excerpts from our interviews have been published in Metropolis Magazine | This project was also released in Metropolis Magazine’s print version, of which five people were featured.

An extended version to be released at a later date. Selected photos can be seen below.