Remember the name
Assa Ariyoshi, she’s a 26 year old illustrator and model from Kamakura, Japan who is our total girl of the moment. Her feminist driven illustrations are taking over Instagram! Having worked with The Guardian, International New York Times, Buzzfeed, Time Out New York, Nylon, Re nery 29 plus so many more We’re so excited to chat to her about her art and her modelling career!
Hey Assa! Where does your art interest stem from?! I cant remember not being into art, my mum was a painter and my dad is a art history professor so it was always very important in our house.
Where is your favourite place to draw, is there a place that gives you lots of ideas and motivation? I’m not very good at drawing on location, I prefer to write ideas down, I mainly get ideas being around people, going to museums and walking around daydreaming.
Who is your favourite female inspiration and why? Tough question! I love yayoi kusama, I think it's amazing how she became such a major artists in the male dominated 60's.
What's been your favourite project or collaboration so far? I have been working on a weekly sex collum for Time Out NY, which I have been enjoying a lot, I get to a lot of creative freedom and sex is usually not a very commercial subject you get to illustrate.
What's your plan for 2018? Have more fun with my work, be grateful this is my job and work hard.
Does your art and modelling coincide with each other? Not really, I think photography and fashion influences my work quite a bit but I see my modelling work as a very separate thing to what I do.
How do you feel about the female art scene? Still has a long way to go, specifically in illustration, maybe not so much in photography in film, although it's inspiring to see women succeed and get the recognition they deserve I feel like sometimes being a female artist is still being used as a token.
What is your favourite mantra to keep you going? Stop comparing yourself to other people's achievements and abilities and focus on the progress you are making, we all work in a different pace and accept some things are just out of your control.
Interview and Words by Abigail Dennison // Photography by Katie Silvester // Styling by Elizabeth Beh.
Check Assa’s work out on her Instagram by clicking
here.
