01:12

Voiceover:
A silent wondering gesture,
The question endlessly pressed her.
The desire could but fester,
As dilemma began to test her.

Light and dark, a single spark
Dark and light, a single slight
Dim and bright, a mental fight
Bright and dim, to abandon him

Intimate Strangers examines the subconscious act of looking in the context of human desire and urban environments. The act of looking is located within psychological fields of trauma, pain and desire in Hattori’s video works. The works immerse viewers in participational observation, making them complicit in their desire to look. They become the site of voyeuristic desire.

Hattori takes a performative approach in her art. By playing the role of the woman and using her voice and a sexually coded image, the artist criticises the objectification of women and the voyeuristic male gaze in historical and contemporary media. With video assuming a central role in her work, she addresses authentic experience in mediated actions and post-performance documentation manipulation.