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Born in a patriarchal family in Japan, Mako Idemitsu's works explore her inner struggle and identity as a woman, wife, daughter, mother, and a foreigner looking for a home abroad. After having two children in California with artist Sam Francis, Idemitsu took up a Super 8 film camera. The 1972 Woman’s House is a document of her visit to Judy Chicago and Miriam Schapiro's Womanhouse, a feminist art installation and performance space. In the same year Idemitsu made Inner-Man, her first work featuring a Jungian inner persona, a theme and style she continues to explore. In the work, Idemitsu overlays images of a naked man over a woman in kimono, suggesting the inner man in a woman. A beautiful picture of her lonely sentiments of living abroad, Santa Monica 3 (1974) shines light on Idemitsu’s filmic lyricism. Emotional Volatility about My Father (1981) illustrates her tangled relationship with her father, who had disowned her when she chose to remain in California. Great Mother (SACHIKO) (1985) is a typical representation of what is known as "Mako-style," in which the physical monitor placed in the shot represents a psychological other that inflicts internal conflict within the protagonist.
