Artist Statement

“Smile”

By Nana Carroll Okamoto

Chalk pastels, chalk pencils, and pencil

When I was given assignment two weeks back, I originally wanted to explore minimal usage of objects and strong usage of emphasis. I first explored things that I had seen before that created a strong effect when drawing the eye to the centre of attention. It was Noh masks. Ever since I was young (when I lived in Japan) I was terrified of Noh shows and their masks, particularly the female face. When I grew older, I learned of the origin of Noh shows which were that of funeral processions in which a story of the deceased would be told by actors (no wonder they are so terrifying). To me, they are the epitome of fear, an emotionless face staring into nothing, smiling at nothing and yet still existing. So, I tried my best to reflect that in this project. Going from absolute pitch black as the background, to the usage of red and eventually chalk pastels as well (something I was not planning but worked out), the process was a good one. My chosen element (the one which luckily mostly everyone figured out a part of) was emphasis using colour, as I wanted the focus to go directly to the white face against the dark-red background.