⛩️⚔️Onna-Bugeisha 女武芸者⚔️⛩️
Osaka 2022• @yodokabe with @bakibaking 🥷🏼 (Alt title: “edging”)
Japan’s femme warriors, known as the onna-bugeisha, belonged to the bushi, a noble class of feudal Japanese warriors who existed long before the term “samurai” came into usage. This piece is an homage to history’s fiercest onna-bugeisha such as Tomoe Gozen, who was said to have fought an army of over 6,000 with only 300 samurai at the 1184 Battle of Uchide no Hama, and was one of only five people to survive; or Nakano Takeko, who led a group of femme warriors known as the Jōshitai. Nakano, who wielded a naginata, had a kill count of 172 samurai.
The actions of Nakano and her band of fighters of the Joshigun are still commemorated today during the annual Aizu Autumn Festival. Every year in September a group of young girls wearing hakama and shiro headbands take part in the procession in their honor.
3 beautiful days painting at Yodokabe with such humbling support from the Juso community! I added sparrows per lovely request from locals as it is this street’s namesake. Can’t wait to see what @dragon76art and @gravityfreegram add to this wall!
どうもありがとうございます @bakibaking@dragon76art@taaaaaa36@rempei_90@wallshare@redcarpet.rental_party Katsumi-San & families for all your kindness, support and generosity! So nice to travel w my mom @theferrarigirl & my love @misschristinewu , see sweet friends @emiriokamoto@froggie9goro again and find new family 🥰 And thank you to all who led me to connects for painting in Japan, i am so so grateful, y’all made my year & heart very full ⚔️⚔️⚔️
A little more insight into the details woven into this piece at @aacc.yale :
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Our initial discussions about developing the piece were all about representation, as my design was organized to only fit 2 characters to make the most use of wallspace. I asked if it was possible to plan some kind of community feedback sessions to interface with community members to get more voices involved. This process was deeply important as it reflects the larger conversation happening in the world about the asian-american diaspora at large: how it is not a monolith. There was a strong call for more representation of south and southeast asian elements, and we worked together on the high challenge of telling a story about the AAPI diaspora in one image. As an east asian artist I have always painted from my experiences, but was able to more authentically diversify as community members offered a wealth of input from their own personal experience. I am so grateful for this process as I think it mirrors the need for more diverse representation within all expressions of asian-american identity, and intend to carry it into all future projects.
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Some additions from these sessions: books on feminist theory, Brahmic poetry, the AACC's magazine. "Easter egg" elements of inclusivity. Traditional dandiya sticks from south Asian dance peek out from the backpack. The textiles, jewelry, and dress evoke a wide array of cultures across Asia, including henna, an activity often offered by the AACC. A tape recorder, to record spoken history.
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The hanging shoes call to mind the "shoe story," an important moment in the AACC's early history when students strove to create space for themselves on campus. Finding the need for more room, the students invited the president of Yale to visit and followed the traditional Asian custom of removing their shoes before entering the space. When the president arrived, there were so many shoes piled in the hallway that it became obvious that this community was much bigger than the space allowed, and this, in turn, convinced the University to upgrade the AACC's space allowances. The shoes act as a visual metonymy for the idea of "finding home."
Swamp Baby (2018) @longbeachwalls_artrenzei
Long Beach, CA
What an exciting time this was. Still new to the game, working out how to bend spray paint to my will, and use it to storytell and world-build. We went to the desert directly after and painted through the day, the sun burned a scar through a hole in my shirt :( there was nothing to think about other than working hard, showing out, friendship and pushing to an unknown, maybe nonexistent destination..
Resharing the video @chopemdownfilms made for the Stop Asian Hate mural in LA as I revisit this part of our shared history and the memories associated with painting this piece. I will be repainting this wall in the coming months and hoping to gather some loose ends of emotion and thought that have been sort of.. trailing in the wind since 2020. How does this resonate with you?
✨ Lucia and the Qilin ✨
A hand-painted interior mural for a gorgeous family and their hyper-talented Hapa daughter ❤️
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Will be sharing some favorite older projects for a while, while I work on larger long-term things ☺️
“The Urchin Merchant” 2021 Santa Cruz, CA
With @pangeaseed@seawalls_@madefreshcrew
I remember I painted this whole thing in one of those trucks with a cherry picker attachment, kind of a dream of mine 🥰 (also my dream whip) I loved inventing these anthropomorphic ocean characters and happy this one is still riding in Santa Cruz ! #laurenys
Hi all,
You may have noticed that this piece on the edge of LA Chinatown has disappeared. A very important piece to the Asian community and its allies, it was federally protected by @restorativejusticeforthearts . The building owners did reach out to me and explained that it was “accidentally” buffed by an employee who was instructed to clean some graffiti off of it, which is very strange indeed. I spoke with them myself and felt they were quite forthright and apologetic, and they have offered a fee to repaint the image of something like it. As the artist I do feel this was a genuine mistake and am grateful for their care in handling it with integrity, which isn’t often the case in our industry.
On that note, in ruminating about this piece and all of the emotion and memory attached to its creation, and that passage of time, it is difficult for me to imagine repainting the same image exactly. But I have always said that this particular mural doesn’t belong to me: it is an echo of a community cry, and so it’s important for me to ask: would you like to see this exact image restored, or something new alongside the same ethos and messaging?
I don’t yet know what this means, but thinking about it has given me an opportunity to really revisit the losses and harms the Asian community experienced during COVID, as well as the joy and strength we saw in response. I am actually quite grateful for this push to reflect on how the world has changed and how the Asian community has evolved in the past years.
Thank you to @restorativejusticeforthearts for your care and attention, and to all involved in the making of this piece. All we can do is look forward
“The Nymphs” @squid.licker x @tatunga for @bermudawalls 🎏 originally we wanted to paint our own version of Waterhouse’s “Hylas and the Nymphs” (1896) but given wall space, ended cutting it down to two characters ❤️ both inspired by Afro-Caribbean water deities whose mirrors are often used to represent “Reflection of Creation.” 🪞The mirror symbolizes these deities’ roles as the "Mother of All Living Things," reflecting the entire world and the souls of their children. Not gonna lie we had all the fun painting this and singing “oldies” (smdh) and often that is just as much priority as the final result 🥰 thank you to everyone in Bermuda we love you !
