Cabinets and Print Boxes
The Print Boxes and Cabinets are an extension of Wendy Maruyama’s Tokonoma series. During a trip to Japan in 2002, Maruyama discovered a cache of old onnagata photographs at a flea market, along with a variety of undated Meiji-period woodblock prints. Some of the prints were remarkably preserved, while others showed signs of wear and age that contributed to their character and historical presence.
At the same time, Maruyama spent considerable time exploring Tokyo’s toy stores, browsing manga, anime merchandise, and collections of figurines often dispensed through large vending machines—machines that also reflected the contradictions and excesses of contemporary consumer culture through the discreet sale of pornographic magazines and sex toys.
The glass cases were inspired by the ningyō doll vitrines commonly displayed in the homes of Maruyama’s relatives and family members, many of which contained idealized oyama or geisha dolls. Maruyama’s reinterpretations replace these traditional figures with contemporary figurines, collapsing distinctions between high and low culture, tradition and commodity, nostalgia and parody. Like the Tokonoma works, these cabinets function as intimate theatrical spaces where cultural memory and popular culture uneasily coexist.
