Manga' consists of photo art: life-size portraits of fantasy fighters and beautiful women in manga style. Manga means cartoon. The photo artists Anderson and Low have taken the street culture of young people dressed as popular manga and animé characters to their studio. The themes are adventure, romance, historical drama, science fiction and pure fantasy. The artists combine digital photo technology with graphical editing and calligraphy effects, in order to create a world that no longer feels like our own. This hybrid art form examines concepts of identity: is the cartoon figure a dream or reality?
The Wereldmuseum combines works of art by Anderson & Low with traditional Japanese prints. The prints have the same themes: warriors and beautiful women (samurai and geisha), as well as city culture from the Edo period. The theatrical nature of the prints, the dynamics of the fighting positions and the details of the clothing are the source of inspiration for the characters in Anderson & Low's work.
Manga transports you to this parallel universe where dreams and reality are melded into one.