The Glistening Combination of Octopus and Woman! Slipping in to Numenama-ten!

| Artist | Posted by Nessie on Sep.12.2016

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In the midst of the remaining cruel summer heat, I managed to sneak in and cover a very unusual exhibition that took place on September 10th and 11th! The name of the event was NUMERU NAMADA – Numenama-ten!

NUMERU NAMADA – Numenama-ten was a photography exhibition created by model/cosplayer/food blogger Namada and photographer Kazan Yamamoto which focused on the novel concept of showing human and octopus intertwined in a slippery embrace.

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Here is the model Namada.

With octopus print panties on her head and an octopus print ringed tank top, Namada shows her enthusiasm as she sets up for the exhibition.

Here are some of the photographs that were on display.

You can see Namada being wrapped up in the tentacles of an 18kg North Pacific giant octopus which was caught in the waters off Hokkaido. The contrast of the colors of the live octopus along with the shimmering slime creates some really mysterious images.

However, it was not just about appearing with real octopuses; also on display were photographs of Namada wearing an octopus-human costume created by Yozigen Niihao while walking the streets of Harajuku!

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I had a chance to ask Namada and Yamamoto about the exhibition.

Why did you put on such an exhibition?

Namada: I really like tentacles and so I had always wanted to try being photographed with octopuses.

Yamamoto: I wanted to take on the challenge of showing off the real sliminess (of octopus) through photography. It was quite stimulating to make so many discoveries while doing it.

What was it like when you were actually going through with it?

Namada: When I was posing with the 18kg live octopus, it was really difficult because it was so heavy!

Yamamoto: Because it was alive, it would move around, and because it was slippery, it was really hard to grab ahold of. It was really hard to think of the composition while shooting photos.

Namada: The slime was really overpowering and when we’d change cuts I couldn’t wash it off in the shower. It shot out ink too! It was like that for about half a day of shooting.

Were you being conscious of Edo period ukiyo-e artist Hokusai’s “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife” when you were taking on this project?

Yamamoto: I have been asked that a lot but I wasn’t really trying to make something like that. Actually, it was really difficult to not fixate on the octopus’ head in the same way when shooting.

What happened to the octopus afterwards?

Yamamoto: We ate it and it was delicious. Getting rid of the slime and boiling it was really difficult too.

Namada: I discovered that wearing it on my head after boiling it looked really cute.

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