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#Tim Okamura
“Full Bloom.” All photographs © Tim Okamura, shared with permission
“This can be a time when a lady’s proper to decide on, and to have a voice in decision-making on each degree, has already been compromised with threats of even additional subjugation,” says artist Tim Okamura, whose putting portraits (beforehand) emphasize the profound power and resilience of girls.
Usually gazing immediately on the viewer, Okamura’s topics confront historical past whereas standing squarely within the current and searching towards the long run. In his ongoing Ladies Warriors collection, people don beautiful, conventional clothes and wield swords, followers, or scythes. His solo exhibition Onna-Bugeisha: Warriors of Gentle on the August Wilson African American Cultural Middle celebrates those that struggle for social justice and for a greater society.
Okamura turned fascinated by the historical past of onna-bugeisha, often known as onna-musha, when he discovered the story of Tomoe Gozen, a legendary feminine samurai from Japan’s late Heian interval (794-1185 C.E.). She is legendary for having led 300 ladies samurai into battle towards an enemy military 2,000 sturdy and was certainly one of solely 5 to outlive.
“Northern Emissaries”
“I believe the truth that the feminine samurai fought alongside males and had the identical duties and expectations resonated with me deeply,” Okamura says, “particularly as a result of as an individual of Japanese descent, I used to be conscious of a traditionally male-dominated, generally misogynist society, which I all the time discovered tough to reconcile as somebody who identifies as a feminist.”
A lot of Okamura’s portraits depict influential up to date ladies, resembling Nigerian-American author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi Jones. Myriad different topics, who typically put on flowers of their hair, faucet right into a common sense of uplifting others and striving for illustration, equality, and empowerment. “I consider the position of the artist is to open up avenues to alternate, constructive pathways and to determine new visions by means of elevated narratives,” he provides.
Okamura’s work is at present on view in a solo exhibition titled Assist System at Blumka Modern in New York Metropolis, and Onna-Bugeisha: Warriors of Gentle continues by means of February 18, 2025, in Pittsburgh. Discover extra on the artist’s web site and Instagram.
“Luvvie Ajayi”
“Ebony Obsidian the Unbreakable”
“Yaya the Demon Slayer”
“KNOW YOUR RIGHTS”
“Fireplace Stroll With Me”
“Encouraging Phrases (Omoiyari)”
#portray
#portraits
#Tim Okamura
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