Keisuke Aiso is an artist and the head of a special effects company called Link Factory, which makes props for Japanese TV shows. In 2016 he exhibited a some creepy looking sculptures in a series titled Onnen. One of the sculptures at the time was a three-foot-tall woman-bird hybrid that acted as the artist’s vision of the Japanese Yōkai Ubume, this creature takes on the form of either a woman who died at childbirth or a bird-like creature that mimics the sounds of babies and attacks children.
The latex creature was simply called Ubume but it earned a new name, later on, Momo, the centerpiece of the latest internet urban legend and hoax. Momo is said to contact children through the internet and threaten them into completing challenges that usually involve self-harm or suicide as the story goes. This leads to great panic recently as parents took to the web and started to warn others of the supernatural threat.
Aiso, 43, did not know there was a problem involving his creation till he started getting hate mail from the UK, United States, and even from his own countrymen (as the Momo hysteria reached Japan) who learned about the challenge. Aiso is a parent himself and understands the concern parents have for their children’s safety, especially on the internet.
And while I’m glad that my work is being known around the globe, I’d like to ask whoever is behind the phenomenon to be more discreet in using the image.” Says Aiso.
Aiso’s phone has been ringing non-stop as film companies from around the globe wanting to buy the rights to use the image of his sculpture for films, “It’ll be terrible if I tried to monetize off this,” he said as he’s not thrilled with the idea of his work being associated with violence against children and suicide.
Aiso with a Momo mask a friend brought back from a trip to Mexico where it was sold at a Day of the Dead festival. Picture by RYUSEI TAKAHASHI
I’ve received so many inquiries about this, but strangely no one has shown interest in wanting the actual sculpture,” Aiso says of his now famed creation.
So where is the star of this story? According to Aiso, since the Ubume statue was not as big as a hit as he hoped, he wrapped it up and stored it in storage in his studio. At one point the wrapping came loose and exposed the latex to the elements causing the statue to break down forcing him to throw it out. Will we see the Ubume /Momo statue ever again? Possibly since Aiso still has her mold.
