Reflection has been a part of artistic practice ever since men became fascinated with the process of mimesis. Since then the  mirror image has been a very suitable metaphor for philosophy and the arts in al its occurrences. It has been both the subject and part of the method of art creation. In the works of Carrie Yamaoka it is the medium. She treats her reflective surfaces as laughing mirrors, created to humour by the deforming of our own image, but gives them their own artistic merit. These panels evoke experiences not unlike the modernist monochromes, a very immersive, almost enveloping distortion of the line of sight. This deliberate hint at the modernists is taken from its reverence by the fact that the image of the viewer instantly becomes part of the work, giving it the qualities of a parody.

The production of these mirrored surfaces is signified by a combination of machine perfection and human error. She deliberatly choses methods that prevent her from knowing the exact form of her works before their creation. This results in panels that seem to defy the notion of the mirror as a viable way of copying the appearances of the outside world. They seem to take up their own space and form a visible addition to this space instead of just visually extending it. They break the suspended believe we have that the mirrored space is defined by the contours of our own bodies by giving the mirror an expression of its own.

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