{"id":4846,"date":"2022-08-23T05:04:24","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T05:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/?post_type=profile&p=4846"},"modified":"2022-10-03T03:37:22","modified_gmt":"2022-10-03T03:37:22","slug":"maya-ben-david","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/profile\/maya-ben-david","title":{"rendered":"Maya Ben David"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Maya Ben David<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Text by Lala Nurlala<\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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I got to give a disclaimer first. I don\u2019t usually view, let alone publicize explicit content. In fact, I tried to view this piece as carefully as possible when curating this piece. However, I feel like POKE\u0301MORPH ME<\/em> by Maya Ben David provides commentary on an important event in Japanese fandom history, so I felt like I had to put this in the exhibition that is about fandom. The piece is a video art that incorporates acting, animation, and found images.<\/p>

Accompanied by the caption, \u201cAren\u2019t we ALL pokemon?\u201d, the video starts with Ben David asking how many Pok\u00e9mon it takes to fix a lightbulb, to which she answers none because either the Pokemon gets released or they get killed. Ben David then put on a costume based on Charizard, a large orange Pok\u00e9mon that resembles a dragon with large wings. Compared to the Pok\u00e9mon in question, the costume wears glasses, a body shaped to one with more feminine body parts, and wearing the same t-shirt and underwear. It is as if Ben David had morphed into a Charizard.<\/p>

Following the recording of Ben David in a costume, there is a photo of Ben David accompanied by sexier versions of Jynx; a purple Pok\u00e9mon with a blonde wig and red dress, Lopunny, a brown bunny Pok\u00e9mon with blonde and curly tips on its ears, and Seadra, a blue Pok\u00e9mon resembling a starfish. A textbox representing Professor Oak, the first character you meet in the classic Pok\u00e9mon games, says that the Pok\u00e9mon are changing into sexier pokemorphs. Then we see Ben David dressed as Charizard, asking the viewer about their thoughts on sexy pokemon, and warns them not to make fanfic about them.<\/p>

Then we see a drawn version of Ben David slowly transforming into a sexier Charizard. She along with the sexier versions of Jynx, Lopunny, and Seadra sing a song that accompanies lewd interactions and behavior done by various Pok\u00e9mon, such as Pikachu; the iconic Pok\u00e9mon based on a Japanese squirrel, Miltank; a pink Pok\u00e9mon that resembles a cow, a pair of\u00a0 Rapidash; Pok\u00e9mon that resemble white horses with flames, Charmander; a precursor to Charizard that resembles a round red salamander, and Hitmonchan; a brown Pok\u00e9mon that wears boxer gloves and a purple outfit.\u00a0<\/p>

The following footage is of a child in a Cubone costume, wandering around in the woods. Cubone is a Pok\u00e9mon that resembles a cream-colored lizard that wears a skull. There is descriptive text on the bottom that reads, \u201cCubone wears the skull of its dead mother and cries to the moon mourning her every night.\u201d<\/p>

Lastly, we see Smoochum, Buneary, and Horsea, slowly transform into Jynx, Lopunny, and Seadra, who then transform into their sexier pokemorphs. They are joined by a drawn version of Ben David in the Charizard costume. The dance was followed by more lewd images of Pok\u00e9mon such as Jigglypuff, a pink Pok\u00e9mon, and electric twins that resemble white rabbits, Plusle with red ear tips and Minun with blue ear tips, before the video cuts to Ben David\u2019s face and the piece ends there.<\/p>

The art piece seems like a celebration of sexuality in Pok\u00e9mon, which in turn is a rebellion against Nintendo, and perhaps everyone who is suppressing the freedom of fandom activity. Doujinshi, fan content in Japan, has a proliferated ecosystem. For many years Japanese fans of media could easily make their own works and put them in a market without any legal threat. This was until 1999, when an artist got arrested for making a doujinshi<\/em> that includes explicit depictions of Pok\u00e9mon and spread it throughout the Internet, as Nintendo as a corporation did not want the pornographic doujinshi<\/em> to tarnish their name. Since then the world of doujinshi<\/em> has not been as safe as it was.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Maya Ben David, POK\u00c9MORPH ME<\/em> (2016) video, 6:21.<\/h5>
Pok\u00e9morph Me presents an interspecies fantasy in which the artist explores online Pok\u00e9mon-based fan fictions to become a buff Charizard\u2014what the video\u2019s voiceover refers to as a \u201csexy Pok\u00e9morph.\u201d<\/em><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Which cultures influenced your work?<\/strong><\/p>

Jewish Culture and mythology<\/p>

How did popular culture affect your growing up?<\/strong><\/p>

I grew up watching a lot of anime and it gave me an appreciation for character design and storytelling<\/p>

What\u2019s your favourite piece of pop culture? Be it a TV show, comic, or music.<\/strong><\/p>

I am really into science fiction mixed with fantasy books right now, I love the Dark Tower Series By Stephen King and The EarthSeed series by Octavia Butler.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFONDAMINIUM<\/span>\n\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maya Ben David Text by Lala Nurlala I got to give a disclaimer first. I don\u2019t usually view, let alone publicize explicit content. In fact, I tried to view this piece as carefully as possible when curating this piece. However, I feel like POKE\u0301MORPH ME by Maya Ben David provides commentary on an important event […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":4921,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":[],"tags":[],"person_category":[],"lang":"en","translations":{"en":4846},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/4846"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/4846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5199,"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/4846\/revisions\/5199"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4846"},{"taxonomy":"person_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ketemu.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/person_category?post=4846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}