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Meeting
Hiroko Okahashi is a delightful experience not only because of her being
an artist but more importantly because of her
attitude towards life.
In a beautifully decorated living room surrounded by art, so much
art that we had to find place to seat ourselves, we talked about her life,
her art, and where she wants to be.
Hiroko is an unusual
Japanese – in fact, she is not Japanese any more.
She has evolved into a citizen of the world.
She has her roots in Japan and still speaks English with a Japanese
accent, but living in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, she seems as if she
belongs to the world. In fact
she has not gone to Japan for years and has no plans to return anytime
soon. She doesn’t know the
reasons – she just doesn’t think it is worth flying that long.
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 She was born in Japan
but has lived in the United States since 1980.
During her early years in Japan, she had studied calligraphy and sumi-e
(Japanese ink brush technique). In
1981 she acquired an interest in photography at the Corcoran School of Art
in Washington DC. Her passion
for photography took her to various parts of the United States,
Brazil,
Europe, and Japan. Then she
continued her education in photography at the School of Visual Art in New
York, Harvard University, and the University of Hawaii.
The turning point came when she started to combine the centuries
old techniques from Japan with
modern photography.
She mixed colors with black and white to create a unique effect in
her work by using silk screening techniques.
Her
work has been exhibited in
New York,
Washington DC,
Massachusetts, and
Hawaii, but believe it or not, she has not exhibited in Japan.
Hiroko’s work has
evolved over time. We were
lucky enough to see the process. The
mirror is the only consistent object – the model is Hiroko.
The main message is the same – a woman in search of her lost
identity. She can be a
mother raising a
teenage son, a
deserted wife, a lover, an artist –
someone who is torn between her
traditional Japanese upbringing and a
liberal, intellectual surrounding of Cambridge.
Hiroko is doing an
admirable job and we consider her to be one of the successful Japanese
outside of Japan. She has established herself as a highly regarded artist.
Her main goal, surprisingly, is still simple – to raise her
teenage son. She is not
giving up on her artistic endeavors though.
She plans on using different media and techniques to create and
invent her new art forms. She
is also hopeful that more art lovers will appreciate this fusion of
photography and painting.
Related
article: Miki
Ariyama
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