yuko nagai | onlyinpomona.org
As far back as she can remember, Yuko Nagai's number one aspiration in life was always, to feed her only what her heart desires and see what happens.
"My life's an experiment", she says, "an ongoing project".
Born 1964 in suburban Tokyo as the only daughter to an aspiring writer/ professional tailor pair, she grew up right into trouble with her uncompromising attitude to stick with such aspiration, and as a result spent long hours on solo expedition in back streets peeking into the forbiddens and unacceptables.
Such years were followed by a decade spent on the wild side knee deep in the vivid display of beauty and bizarro, and another decade and a half as a semi-hermit in introspection. It was during the latter period she began to fully give in to her artistic inclinations.
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Above: Yuko Nagai, captured while in transparent mode
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Since the beginning of the socialization process, she formed a special relationship with things she can put on. Starting with hair ornaments in 1969, now growing into elaborately painted dresses, they provided her with a shield that holds her dreamy visions, while sending out a signal to her comrades in a language of dreamers.
As a true autodidact, most everything she does she taught herself, except for minimal technical training on flat pattern making, black and white pre-digital photography, and kind assistance concerning fabric dyeing from Tokyo's Seiwa dye material store.
Over the course of above-mentioned years, she had painted murals and people's faces, worked for a fashion designer and a costume maker, facilitated art groups, organized events, and carried on periodically as a clothing designer. In recent years, she had shown the public her dye works and photographs in Tokyo and Los Angeles, respectively.
She currently lives in a small town in north edge of central Japan facing Pacific and is working on various projects, mostly involving dyed dresses while recording their "making" processes, and continues to give in to the oft-elusive Muse that is art, passion and mystery, most of times willingly.
As a strong swimmer and novice surfer, she finds much inspiration in a large body of water, and nowadays some of her happiest times are spent in the sea under moonlight.