Art has always been a way for Rumi Tominaga to process life and navigate change. After growing up in the U.S., she moved to Tokyo, where she has lived for over a decade. Her journey across cultures and her work as a producer amplifying marginalized voices deeply influence her art.

In this interview, Rumi shares how everyday moments inspire her creativity, like observing people on Tokyo trains. She talks about her love for working with discarded materials, the way identity constantly evolves, and how art helps her let go and accept the unexpected. She hopes to connect with others by giving new meaning to things that might otherwise be overlooked.

I am a multimedia Japanese artist who was reared in the U.S. but has resided in Tokyo for twelve years. My adventures on the West and East coasts and the American South and the culture shock and comfort of “returning home” to Japan informed my creative process and the resulting images. I’ve spent the past decade producing works by marginalized voices for film and television, creating a storytelling space that investigates feminism, race, gender, and immigration. Interacting with storytellers worldwide has further fueled my artistic exploration of privilege, strength, and vulnerability. I have identified as an immigrant girl in suburban Orange County (Japanglish at home), a queer social activist in NYC, a spouse to my transgender ex in Tokyo, and currently an artist working through accumulated points of view and location-based ideological shifts.

1.   Your art reflects a deep connection to the people you encounter daily. How do these fleeting interactions on Tokyo trains inspire your work and creative process?  

I internalize the people I see and absorb their masks, poses, and gestures. Who they are on the train is not who they are in their private sphere, even though we contain the same vitals, heartbeats, and currents. Our idiosyncrasies and cellular abnormalities make us more specific than humans, more than our name, more than our label of sister, mother, grandfather, veteran photographer…fill in the blank.

I think I have a plan, but the real magic happens when I deviate from it.

Rumi Tominaga

2.  You’ve lived in such diverse cultural contexts—how have these experiences shaped the themes and materials in your art?  

I’ve always been drawn to overlooked details, which come through in my work’s isolated, truncated, or color elements. Thematically, I’m also interested in the parts of ourselves that we want to discard or that others want us to discard. Perhaps this is why I gravitate towards parts of the body more than the whole, a head without a face. I must be stuck on the discarded because whether it was a sculpture or current collage, I prefer the thrown-away materials to the shiny and new. Wanting to give life to something cast aside and maybe even make it beautiful.

3.   Your work blends abstracted reality with surrealism. What drives your exploration of masks, postures, and the layers of human identity?  

Most of us continuously evolve in our identity, whether becoming more comfortable with who we are or settling into our new and various roles in life. With each life experience, I experience a shift in identity. Until I’m aware of the impact of, say, a death, I unconsciously or consciously feel the emotional mask, supported by various postures. I like to observe others and see how they adapt to their shifts in identity. It’s such a human process, no?

4.   Ink and watercolor seem to resonate deeply with you. Why do you find these media particularly suited to expressing the fluidity and complexity of your life experiences? 

There’s no 100% controlling ink and watercolor when it flows; the magic and challenge lie therein. It’s a great enforcer of letting things go and just being, then finding the image as much as shaping it. I must have needed that meditative element in my life. Currently, I work with paper—analog collage. I scavenge, then think I have an image or idea in mind, and then as I piece it together, it inevitably doesn’t work out until I let go and deviate from the plan. Letting go must be something I’m not very good at, lol.

I internalize the people I see and absorb their masks, poses, and gestures.

Rumi Tominaga

5.   You’ve been both a producer amplifying marginalized voices and an artist exploring identity. How has this dual perspective influenced your storytelling approach?  

It’s always great to support someone else’s story and perspective. Directors often have a very focused idea of what they want, and it’s very intriguing to work with someone with an uncompromising stance on their creative work. I’m very interested in human emotions, and witnessing other stories so closely increases my awareness of what experiences inspire, damage, and change people.

6.  Your art delves into the internal and external facets of humanity. What do you hope viewers take away from your work’s layered, textural stories?  

Hmm…I hope people find some interesting elements. When connecting with my work on a deeper level, if someone finds it meaningful somehow, that’s incredible. We’re all in different places, even from hour to hour, and you never know what will resonate. It’s taken a while for me to be happy with what I create, so any connection a viewer may have to it is a super bonus.

Rumi Tominaga’s art reminds us that beauty can be found in unexpected places. She accepts imperfection and change, whether working with found materials or layering images. Her work encourages us to look beyond the surface and appreciate the pieces of ourselves that make us unique. As she grows, her art reflects life’s constant evolution. To learn more about Rumi, click the following links to visit her profile.

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