Today we’d like to introduce you to Yuki Noguchi.
Yuki, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
People may think the uniqueness of my story is where I am from – the island of Asia, the land of samurai and robots, Japan. But I think what makes me unique is not where I am from but that I left my mother culture to seek something else in a distant land.
I have been fascinated by Hollywood movies ever since I was very young. I was the kid that would go to the video store and grab a few movies at a time, so they lasted me all week. When the chance came to go to college in California, I took the ticket for the adventure.
This is a basic version of what happened. But the real story is I have always been a misfit and didn’t feel enough of a connection in Japan to spend the rest of my life there. When I landed in the US, I felt like it was the place I always dreamed of – only to realize that as an outsider I was the underdog in this game.
It’s hard to see the pond if you are in the pond. A few years after coming here, I came to realize just how Japanese I really am. Since then I have had a love-hate relationship with my identity. It’s a part of me that I cannot cut out, but that still feels very distant.
In a way, I am too American to be Japanese, but too Japanese to be American. I see myself as a last piece of a puzzle that does not fit into the last missing place.
I spent 20 years in Japan, and all my adult life has been in the U.S. I neither speak perfect English nor perfect Japanese anymore. But being stuck in between cultures has allowed me to see concepts over details. I see things in a simpler form.
This duality has helped me understand both sides of myself – and the two worlds I have inhabited – more clearly. I can see Japan more objectively because I’m not in Japan. I can see many good things in the U.S. because I’m not from here. This distance is something that makes me unique.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
There can be a movie without sound. Without editing. Without actors. But we won’t have any movies without imagery.
I’m a cinematographer. I create visual media like commercials and TV, but deep down my hearts belong to telling narratives. To the outside world, I am a cameraman – the technical guy who holds the camera. But to me, I am a storyteller. One of the big misconceptions people have about cinematographers is that we are supposed to produce beautiful images. But that’s far from the truth. We are supposed to create powerful images. The cinematographer’s role is to tell the story through the lens and lighting.
Every choice we make on set is a choice to tell a different story. For example, I can use telephoto lenses from a distance to create a closeup, but I can also create another kind of close up with wider lens at a closer distance. I can move the camera in or out – or stay still. I can light from the outside or the inside. These choices all create different types of emotional impact, and that’s what cinematographers really do. It’s surprising even for myself that sometimes I do not care about the technicality as much as how we are telling the story.
But the real question is why we make the choices we make. I have to ask myself, “What is the honest feeling of the moment?” As much as actors have to deliver the emotions, cinematographers have to wrestle with the experience of being in the moment in order to engineer it.
As an artist, I will always gravitate toward stories of misfits – people who have been left behind and are trying to find a place in the world. Because that mirrors my journey.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
The biggest challenge for artists today is to cut through the noise and look inward. Art is out there more than ever, but it’s hard to navigate your artistic value in this post-Instagram, content-inflated world. In many ways, technology is working against our ability to be honest about who we are and what we want to say.
Who gave internet stars the name “influencers?” That’s such a pretentious term for people who collect likes and comments. Do artists need to be part of this game? Can you really value art based off whether or not someone likes it in their split second’s attention?
Instagram gives us instant access to the best artists in the world. The people who are handing out the likes and comments are comparing you to those artists, and they expect that caliber of work. If you can scroll through Picasso’s profile on your palm, you want to hire Picasso. And that pressures artists to want to be Picasso, too.
Insecurity comes from the gap between you and whatever you’re jealous of. That gap is more apparent than ever. It makes you feel like you’re not worth as much as that person, so you try to close the gap by doing what they’re doing. Everyone gets good at mimicking Picasso, and we wind up a bunch of wannabe wallabies trying to hop like kangaroos. We lose sight of what we have and seek the approval of the masses, but not ourselves. It’s a vicious cycle.
When you’re surrounded by distractions on the outside, it’s hard to see inside. But art doesn’t come from trying to be something you’re not. Creativity comes from within, from being vulnerable and putting your honest self out there. And creativity is a little like Tinker Bell – you need to truly believe in it, or it dies. It’s hard to leap forward not knowing where you will land. But the real thing happens while you are in the air. If it is given, you didn’t earn it. Earn your moments.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
One of my recent projects was exhibited at the The Grand Palais in Paris. My website is www.yukinoguchi.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yukinoguchi.com
- Email: [email protected]
Image Credit:
Aleks Kocev, Bret Watkins, Jordan Scott
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