We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yuri Okahana-Benson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yuri below.
Yuri, thank you so much for joining us today. Let’s jump right into something we’re really interested in hearing about from you – being the only one in the room. So many of us find ourselves as the only woman in the room, the only immigrant or the only artist in the room, etc. Can you talk to us about how you have learned to be effective and successful in situations where you are the only one in the room like you?
This is one of many things that I had to quickly learn after graduating from school. Though compared to when I first started working as a professional 10 years ago, I now have developed effective tactics of being successful in such instances where I am on my own, but I am still honing the methods everyday.
As soon as I started working as a professional scenic designer, I was faced with a reality that I did not expect. It was shocking to me to realize that so many people judged me for factors on the surface and not for my actual ability to deliver the work. To be belittled, humiliated, and not being heard; because I am a foreign national whose first language is not English, a person of color, and a female. I really thought in a professional world, I would be judged by my work not by some components of myself. But that was not the case for a while. There have been so many instances that I have been the only person in the room because of one or a combination of the factors mentioned before and as a result, it became a default setting for myself.
So what did I do with it? After a few years of trying to reason with anyone / instances that stood between myself and the work that I was hired to do because of all those factors, I came to a realization; those people will not listen no matter how hard I try to tell them not to see me only through those lenses. Also why do I always need to do the extra work for them so they could be more just and practice equity. The extra labor both emotionally and intellectually was never in my contract to begin with! Since realizing this, my whole tactics of working in those environments and also the level of self confidence and trust in myself shifted.
After the internal shift, I started to be less apologetic of my language skill first. After all, I know 2 completely different languages and can use them on command. If people hear my accent sometimes, or people judge me on the choice of words because they don’t sound “native”, so what. Then I started to openly embrace the different sensibilities / perspectives I bring to the table that are rooted in my background and all the experience I have had as a person. I would bring in references / ideas that may not be familiar to the majority in meetings with directors and producers. And use them as my tools to open the gate. In the field of art and design, everyone is always looking for something unique, different, and special to tell a story and that is where I potentially come in by creating a visual expression with a flare / touch of not-so-traditional- American ways of doing things. Of course, this works perfectly for some projects, and not so much for other projects. And that is totally fine! Every project has their own unique needs and ways to fulfill its needs.
To find my own voice and be a little more certain about myself over the years, as well as knowing that there is no need for me to prove myself to anyone / anything but to be genuine to the work I signed on made me a lot more calm and focused as a designer, and that definitely helped me to be more confident being in a room full of people who don’t look like me at all. In addition, the more I carry this new attitude with me, the easier it has gotten and people started to recognize what I am capable of offering to the table. In which led to exciting projects and collaborators that I got to work with thus far.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, graduated from J.F.Oberlin University majoring in Performing Arts. In 2009, I moved out to California to pursue a Masters in Fine Arts degree in Scenic Design for Theater at California State University, Long Beach. Not knowing how to navigate myself in the imperial system and English, the 3 years in the program definitely taught me a lot. During my time in graduate school, I also did a semester-long internship in St. Petersburg, Russia, working at one of the theater companies in the city. This gave me an opportunity to build a connection with people in different parts of the world that I still have to this day. After finishing graduate school, I started working as a freelance scenic designer for live entertainment and have been working on projects in the U.S. and internationally. Currently as well as working as a freelance scenic designer, I also teach scenic design and other related classes for the BFA program in Experience Design and Production at School of Theater at California Institute of the Arts.
Also I am a part of the set designers book “Scene Shift U.S. Set Designers in Conversation” ( conceived by Maureen Weiss and Sibyl Wickersheimer, published from Routledge https://www.scene-shift.com/) and there will be an exhibition at Fisher Museum of Art based on the book where all the works by designers including myself will be exhibited. Other than that, I’m designing a couple of shows this season and preparing to start to work on personal projects.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Three qualities that I find important in life are; An ability to be able to pick yourself up after hardship of any kind. Life is one giant mystery box. We don’t know what is going to happen the next day even when you have been on a great path with your career or personal life. Things could change for both smooth and rough instantaneously. But, you will always have yourself and the experience that you went through. There is a proverb in Japanese “Nana korobi Ya oki” which translates to “falling down seven times, getting up eight” meaning falling down does not mean a failure, you just need to come back up again and keep going. It is ok to take your time, just go with your own beat of the drum.
To be a genuine human being. This includes a lot of things like being able to openly own your own shortcomings, being empathetic to others, and to always remember there is a lot more to learn in the world.
Lastly, to nurture and be able to use my own imagination. To be able to imagine is such a wonderful ability that we all have. This lets us think deeper, understand more about each other and helps us keep being playful and fun. As well as let us prevent certain things from happening so that we would not need to make the same mistakes etc.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
One of many perks of being a freelance designer is that I get to work with different groups of people all the time. I am always excited to work with new people and to have the first conversation with the director and fellow designers on a new project and start sharing thoughts and ideas with each other and see what kind of magic we can create collaboratively. As of now, I am mainly designing for live theatrical productions, but I have been curious in curating immersive experience, doing site specific works, and anything really that uses a physical environment as a main vehicle of visual storytelling. It would be great to get to know others who are also interested in visual story-telling and play around with ideas! Another thing that I have been wanting to spend more time on and cultivate as another creative facet is creating a body of work in miniature models and something along the line. I do scale model making as a main part of the design process for all the productions I design for but I want to expand the outlet with the medium more. There are different technologies available to do model making processes, such as 3D modeling and VR, and they are all exciting. That said, I think there is something fundamentally strong and meaningful in creating something that you can touch, move, and change while you play with it. Doing some sort of workshops on visual story-telling using the creative mediums I already have would be super exciting too!
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.yuriokahana.com/
- Instagram: 11uri30
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuri-okahana-bab1955b/
Image Credits
Sibyl Wickersheimer (JUDAS_FALL’23) Heidi Cole (SITE VISIT_SPRING’23) Intro to Model Making Class at CalArts (CALARTS_SPRING’23) Yuri Okahana-Benson (the rest of images provided)
