Elly
Nagaoka
Biography
Elly Nagaoka is a Japanese artist living and working in Rome. She was born in California, USA, raised in Tokyo and she obtained her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (USA) in painting and printmaking.
Her research focuses on the concepts of identity as a nomadic subject to investigate its multiplicity. She formalizes her projects through drawings, collages, painting, and installations.
Her works have been presented in both institutional and independent spaces such as the CIAC, in Genazzano; Monserrato Arte ‘900 Gallery, Rome; Macro Asilo, Rome; The Galleria Lettera_E, Rome; Austrijski kulturni forum, Sarajevo, Gramma_Epsilon, Athens.
Critical test
“Vocali ” (Vowels) was inspired by three different events over the last two years:
first from meditation and the chanting of vowel sounds; secondly from a conference in Rome by the philosopher Adriana Cavarero, on Ovid’s story of the nymph Echo and Narcissus; third, a track by Peteris Vasks, called “The Book” played and sung by the cellist Sol Gabetta that I heard at a concert in Amsterdam.
The project plays on the double meaning of the word “vocali” in Italian: vowels of the alphabet and vocal expressions, particularly that of female voices.
_Elly Nagaoka
