Like Alice in Wonderland fallen down the rabbit hole, artist Kanako Sasaki finds herself alone in beautiful spaces. The Japanese artist is often the subject in her photo exhibit Wanderlust, showing through October 30 at Dina Mitrani Gallery. Its easy to imagine her in pursuit of a talking white rabbit or misled by a smiling cat, but Sasaki says her surreal world of sand dunes and lonely forests stems from an imagination built on Japanese novels, ukiyo-e paintings, and her childhood fears of death. In one image, she appears corpse-like face-down and legs sprawled in a grassy meadow. In another, she climbs out of the frame and is captured headless. The highly saturated photos express both serenity and discomfort, as if Sasaki is asking, Did I finally escape, or am I infinitely lost?
Tuesdays-Fridays, 1 p.m. Starts: Sept. 24. Continues through Oct. 30, 2010