Photograph of Rika Nagahata working on a painting

This is a photograph of artist Rika Nagahata working on one of her paintings. Rika has loved art since she was a young child. She studied art all through her school years and eventually enrolled at an art university. After Rika obtained her degree, she initially wanted to study painting in the United Kingdom, but her uncle suggested she go to New Zealand first to study English for at least a year. Following her uncle’s advice, she came to Wellington in 2008 to study English at Massey University.

Rika soon came to love the seas and mountains surrounding Wellington and the colours in her art often take inspiration from Aotearoa’s natural environment. Although she initially found life in Wellington difficult due to her limited vocabulary, she eventually grew more comfortable with English and decided to stay when she began to get a growing number of gallery exhibitions. Rika is now a full-time, self-employed artist whose paintings mostly depict animals in a Japanese style.

This photograph is part of a set of 24 photographs featuring twelve people who are either Japanese immigrants to New Zealand, their children, or descendants of Japanese New Zealanders. The images were carefully staged for an exhibition in 2016 which was, in turn, the outcome of a project sponsored by the Japan Society of Wellington and organized by Japan Society member Susan Zou and Noriko Murakami in 2016.

*Text based on interview summaries by Susan Zou and Noriko Murakami for the ‘Japanese Immigrants' experiences in New Zealand’ photographic exhibition, 2016.