cloud collecting #4: Yuria Okamura
symbolic forms, developing our own visual language + geometric patterns
cloud collecting includes 3-question interviews with women and gender-expansive artists discussing their creativity. I'm excited to have visual artist, Yuria Okamura share a few insights into her process. I discovered her intricately delicate artwork a few years ago and feel deeply grateful for the opportunity to connect with her.
Yuria Okamura is a Melbourne-based artist whose practice encompasses drawing, painting, ceramics and mural painting. Inspired by herbalism and animism, she combines botanical imagery with geometric forms derived from religious symbolism in architecture and ornamentation across cultures. Through abstract symbolism, Okamura represents plant life in reverence in the hope of cultivating a meaningful relationship with nature. You can find her website here.
I love how your work is filled with tiny details. Do you ever create hidden meanings or messages in your work?
I’m inspired by the use of symbolism in geometric and organic ornamentation within various religious and mystical traditions. I reference the symbolic forms in those traditions in my work in the hope they evoke a similar sense of wonder in the viewer, but ultimately, I wish for the meaning of my work to be open to each viewer’s interpretation.
When do you remember identifying as a creative person?
I’ve been interested in drawing since childhood, but I mostly made observational drawings until I started studying at art school. I didn’t feel overly creative until I started to develop my own visual language, which took a long time.
How do you cloud collect (connect to childlike wonder) in your creativity?
Mostly by looking at nature and learning about nature from scientific and diverse cultural perspectives. Travel also plays a big part in getting inspiration. I love seeing architecture and ornament in different cultures and am particularly interested in geometric patterns and symbols within those, which often resemble forms in nature.