Defining Nikkei Art

-- Erika Nakasone Facing Her Art Exhibition--

By Katoh Kaoru (Art Critic, South Central American Art Researcher, and Professor at Kanagawa University)

The Japanese make their first appearance in Peruvian history at the beginning of the 17th Century. But it was not until the large-scale Japanese immigration of the late 19th Century that contributed so greatly to the economy of Peru. By the time the Japanese unfortunate enough to experience World War II made their way to Peru, there were already five generations of Japanese established there.

Peruvian art and Japanese immigration cross paths with the work of world-renowned artist Tilsa Tsuchiya (1936-1984). Her work reflects the literary times in South Central America and has been called “magical” and “dreamy”. No matter the adjectives describing her work, there is no question that her work has been undeniably labeled as typical Peruvian Art. The question of her identity as Nikkei has heretofore been virtually non-existent in the context of art conversation either by her or art historians.

The existence and use of the term “Nikkei” or ニッケイ(the Japanese katakana writing of the word) gained popularity during the 1990s. The concept of coining a common identity across the Americas by these diaspora of Japanese descent was both thought-provoking and a deeply curious concept. But has this new terminology lended itself to the Japanese artists scattered about the continents for their art to be called “Nikkei Art”? Is Nikkei Art a cultural movement that is transcending international borders? More, is it a notion commingled with aesthetics? Is it all-encompassing as the ethnic origin of what it is to be Japanese? Or, is it just a phenomenon of modern art? The definition of identity is murky still yet, let alone substantiating the notion of such movement. But what can be said for sure is that to speak of modern art in these times as being bound by national borders or form of expression is absurd and there are hints of alternative art forms emerging. Erika Nakasone reiterates this by saying, “my work can neither be defined as Peruvian or as Japanese. It is hybrid, or meskla (creole?) in its essence, just as am I.”

In the catalog for the Modern Nikkei Art of Peru exhibition held at Museum Pedro de Osma, Peruvian-born Erika is quoted as saying that during her time at the Lima University of Art, “It is without question that I began to create my art as a Peruvian woman. But friends constantly commented that there were hints of “Japanesque” in my work”. These comments encouraged Erika to explore “Japanesque”. With scholarship in hand, she left for Okinawa University in 2001. Okinawa was also the birthplace of Erika’s grandparents. Confined to neither Peru or Japan exclusively, Erika spent the next 10 years honing her craft in New York, Columbia, The Philippines and elsewhere across the globe, making her the artist she has come to be known as today.

It was in Okinawa that Erika first encountered bingata. Bingata is dyed fabric that uses a wide variety of stencil paper patterns in decorating. This art form first began in Okinawa in the 15th Century and was used in the making of kimono and obi sashes. Erika took this Okinawan art form and combined it with a well-known Peruvian art known as retablo, or painting on a tile, that was introduced during the time of Spanish colonization and that took on a form of its own that is deeply engrained as Peruvian art form. Though retablos can be found throughout the Central and South Americas, they take a unique form and definition depending on the local culture, and though they certainly cannot be confined to one blanketing definition, it can be said that they were displayed on Catholic altars. Later, wooden retablos in simplistic three-dimensional relief were brought into homes for use in personal worship.

Erika applies bingata in a quasi-geometric pattern to the surface of box-shaped or half three-dimensional retablo backing or structure. Therein she places a figurine, or effigy of pre-Columbians who flourished prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. These graphic patterns are traced in white and distributed evenly on a plane. Then, to symbolize the elements of cross-cultures that have overcome these times and spaces, she places an obi on the work of art.

The hints for painting patterns garnered from Okinawan bingata art plus the retablos that sparked the geometric shapes plus the pre-Columbian effigies plus the obi motif tying these elements all together culminate in Erika’s fundamental hybrid art form. But, needless to say, her art that she does from day to day is not confined to any particular terminology (in this case Nikkei). She looks forward to when her art next morphs and it is during the process itself that a work first becomes visible. Where the road next takes her and whether that work will be Nikkei Art is something to look forward to indeed.