Video Short- 7.11 MB. 1:24 m

I first learned about Nabuto, a Japanese character from history and stories passed down from Japanese culture, on LinkedIn. Today a yearly festival in Japan featuring Nabuto gets millions of attendees. I was inspired by the ferociously drawn character that also, because of the flat image depiction, also seemed cute to me.

Having only recently arrived in the Kinston artist residency, I set out to explore surroundings by attempting a plein air landscape project. After uploading the drawings onto my tablet, photos of men and women wearing emotionally disturbed expressions completed the digital narrative of hidden fear and anger undulating under the surface of calm exteriors.

Kinston is like all other places. People are people. I feel gratitude for the many experiences gained since mid-2022.

"Nabuto to me felt like a different style altogether, told like it was at a theater. Although true to the proper story and the culture, for me it was more jarring than the others. Thanks to the music I felt I was at a play and with her style it moved along quickly." --Philip McCobb