Photographer Kyoto Hamada creates an alter ego for ongoing project

Everyone is terrified of getting old, from that first grey hair we deny even existed to shedding a tear at your first wrinkle. It may flabbergast you, but Kyoto Hamada has donned a grey wig, latex makeup and floral patterns to become an old lady in a project called I used to be you. She goes by the name of Kikuchiyo-san, and accompanied by a series of photographs, she goes about her life sewing buttons, going to museums and doing her laundry.

I feel quite humbled by Kyoto’s project, as recent events have led her to look at her life from a different perspective, and in this case, through a fictional character. By taking herself out of her comfort zone as an artist, it has become a reminder that “time and life are always moving.”