umico niwa

THE BOTANICAL SELF

interview

by BOBBI SALVÖR MENUEZ

 

BOBBI SALVÖR MENUEZ — We’re doing this interview under a tree, with little white flowers blooming between us. As a kid, how did you first understand the practice of making art? 

UMICO NIWA — I liked to make art when I was younger because it gave me the language and the tools before any formal schooling. When you’re filled with angst, when you’re biracial, when you’re queer and closeted, when you’re an immigrant, you have to make sense of the world, right? So, for me, that was through writing, drawing, sculpting, or just making up stories. It’s like the need to scribble on a piece of paper in your bed in the darkness because you don’t know where to put your emotional confusion and turmoil. For me, making art was like discovering a bootleg form of therapy.

BOBBI SALVÖR MENUEZ…