Rebel Girls: Yoshiko Chuma

Last year I was asked to create two portraits of two fantastic women for the latest Rebel Girls book. One of them is Yoshiko Chuma who is a contemporary dancer and choreographer.

I didn’t know much about modern dance prior to this project, but Yoshiko’s work really opened my eyes. When watching Yoshiko dance, there is just so much going on. When I was studying clips of her dancing to make this illustration, I actually had to watch them at 1/4th of the speed, just so I could be able to comprehend all of her amazing subtle body expressions.

It was so hard to decide on one pose that could characterise her work, because there seem to be so many styles and influences flowing through her movements, from American pop culture to ballet.

So I decided that instead of showing her in one pose, I wanted to show her in movement, having several poses overlap and flow into each other. I’m really happy with how this piece turned out. I hope to have reflected this extraordinary woman in a way that does her justice! 🤞

Made for ‘Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 immigrant Women Who Changed The World’

Published by Timbuktu Labs.