Serica Storytellers: Daniel Tam-Claiborne & Naomi Okubo on the Duality of Identity

Join Fou Gallery and The Serica Initiative for an evening of layered storytelling and introspective dialogue as we explore the complexities of identity through literature and visual art. Serica's Deputy Director & Writer Daniel Tam-Claiborne will share insights from his debut novel Transplants, a cross-generational story following two women’s parallel journeys of self-discovery across borders.

Japanese artist Naomi Okubo, known for her psychologically charged paintings examining themes of identity, beauty, and self-concealment, will speak about the personal narratives embedded in her practice.

In conversation with a moderator, the two artists will reflect on cultural displacement, personal reinvention, and the many ways identity is constructed, masked, and revealed. This will be filmed and recorded for online distribution.

The evening will include a guided walkthrough of the exhibition led by Lu Solano, curator of Okubo’s solo exhibition Resonance on a Surface at Fou Gallery, Lu.

**This event is made possible by the generous support of Teasthetic and AccentSisters!

Resonance on a Surface: The solo exhibition by Japanese artist Naomi Okubo continues Okubo’s exploration of home, intimacy, solitude, and escapism through intricately composed visuals. Okubo’s practice explores alternative ways of living that slow down the pace of global culture. Okubo’s process begins with digital collages that incorporate photography, drawing, and found imagery. Drawing from architecture, interior design, fashion, and art history to textiles, scientific diagrams, and decorative patterns, she constructs richly layered compositions that blend elements of Japanese culture with Western motifs.

The event is made possible by the generous support of Teasthetic and AccentSisters.

Artist Naomi Okubo  (b. 1985, Tokyo, Japan) Having earned her M.F.A from Musashino Art University in 2011, Naomi Okubo lived and worked in New York from 2017 to 2019 with a grant from the Agency for Cultural Affairs of the Japanese Government, and then continued her stay under the Yoshino Gypsum Foundation's Overseas Study Program. She returned to Japan in 2020. Her work has continued to exhibit in Asia, Europe, and the U.S.A., including HARPER’S, New York (2024); Fou Gallery, New York (2024/2025); GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo (2023); ELSA ART GALLERY, Taipei (2022); Yoshino Gypsum Art Foundation, Tokyo (2022); Residency Unlimited, New York (2019); Official Japanese Ambassador Residence, New York (2017); Czech Center Art Gallery, New York (2017); Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2009) and Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto (2005). In 2024, she had her first solo exhibition in New York at Fou Gallery. She served as a residency artist at mh PROJECT, New York (2019); Residency Unlimited, New York (2017); Art Department of Halland Municipality, Sweden (2014). Obuko has undertaken commissioned work for prestigious publications such as Airbnb Magazine, DIE ZEIT, ARMUSELI, and ZEIT-magazine. Her work can also be found in such periodicals as Pen, Contemporary Art Curator Magazine, Financial Times, Juxtapoz Magazine, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair and Blanc Magazine. Her work is in the collection of Hallands Konstmuseum (Sweden) and Zhuzhong Collection (Beijing).

Writer Daniel Tam-Claiborne Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial writer,multimedia producer, and nonprofit director. He is the author of the short story collection What Never Leaves, and his writing has appeared in Catapult, Literary Hub, Of Assignment, The Rumpus, Huf Post, and elsewhere. A 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, he has also received support from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Kundiman, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the New York State Summer Writers Institute, and others. Daniel holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he lives with his wife and daughter in Seattle.

Curator Lu Solano (b. Rio de Janeiro) is an independent curator and art consultant whose multidisciplinary projects focus on the intersection between art, science and language in contemporary environments.  Solano is particularly interested in developing art exhibitions that reconfigure physical and spatial relationships with the viewer. She is the co-founder of Art in Brackets, an art consultancy that facilitates cross-cultural dialogue between artists, collectors, and institutions in the U.S. and abroad, with a strong focus on New York’s creative communities. Solano previously served as Artistic Director of Residency Unlimited and was a trustee at Equity Gallery. She is a frequent collaborator with the General Consulate of Brazil in New York.