Bridging the Past, Present, and Future through Art

Department of Design Futures, Faculty of Design
 Naho Yokoya, Assistant Professor

My research explores the memories and histories of people and places through art-based creative practice. Every place holds its own unique history, and within it lie the quiet, often forgotten voices of those who once lived there. Through artistic research, I seek to capture these subtle yet vital aspects of human life — the individual stories that shape our collective memory.

One of my ongoing projects involves recording and reinterpreting the everyday memories of people who spent their childhoods during wartime, both in Japan and across Asia. By focusing on songs, music, and personal narratives, this research seeks to reconstruct forgotten forms of memory and archive them in multiple ways, while reflecting on the emotions and contradictions that exist between personal experience and public history. In my laboratory, each member engages in creative research that takes diverse forms depending on their chosen themes, media, and methods.

In addition to artistic production, I also collaborate with experts such as anthropologists and historians. By connecting diverse fields of knowledge, my goal is to open academic research to society through artistic expression, and to explore new possibilities for research and education that bridge art and the social world.

■Contact
Department of Design Futures, Faculty of Design
Naho Yokoya, Assistant Professor