Fabric with a Big Drawing from the Big Apple
NYFA Current
・Aliens in New York art projecthttps://current.nyfa.org/post/126347857743/rica-takashima-aliens-and-other-extraterrestrial
・One Stop Family Pop Up
https://current.nyfa.org/post/187168306363/conversations-rica-takashima-and-christine?fbclid=IwAR349KMz0ULRq4nVhF5S7V5G6Lg4ClQp-6YujRHg1JXMxNMqG51m8wSWj6E
NYFA Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF11TKclY1w&t=74s
Rica Takashima’s profile
Rica's themes are discomfort and empathy towards pre-existing concepts and lifestyles, such as gender, age and race.
Something that is ordinary to one person can be a strange practice to others. At the same time, that strange practice can be exciting to yet another. Rica wants to express the differences between cultures as something fun and exciting, rather than as creating conflict and friction.
In 1995, Rica started drawing the semi-autobiographical Manga portraying everyday lives of lesbians, in Japan’s premier lesbian magazine at that time. She struggled with her sexuality since her young age, but there were no movies/novels with themed positive lesbian stories even in 1980s. Her questions towards traditional Japanese patriarchal family values and discrimination against LGBT motivated her to start to draw conceptual Manga to public. Her project Manga book was published in 2003 and 2012 in English and Japanese, and Italian version in 2011. After she immigrated to the US with her family in 2008, she collaborates her work with Pride March, NewFEST LGBT film festival, and other diverse organizations.
