Naoco Wowsugi

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Naoco Wowsugi is a Japanese-Korean{{Clarify|reason=See MOS:KO-ETHNICITY and MOS:ETHNICITY; we should avoid stating ethnicity in the lead and clarify nationality directly.|date=January 2025}} conceptual artist based in the United States whose work has included photography, installation art, and performance art. Much of her art involves interactive elements, and explores themes of community and human connection to food, plants, and fungi.{{Cite web |last=Weber |first=Elizabeth |date=2022-08-05 |title=Community as a Work of Art |url=https://www.american.edu/cas/news/community-as-a-work-of-art.cfm |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=American University |language=en}}

Early life and education

Wowsugi was born in Japan. Her Korean great-grandparents were brought to Japan as laborers; her grandparents and parents continued to live in Japan, but were not able to become citizens.{{Cite web |date=2012-06-22 |title=Long Ago, Far Away is Right Now |url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/54b7feb3e4b0ad6fb5db6385/t/565d242ee4b0fc053c583c0e/1448944686649/RichmondArtReview.pdf |website=Richmond Arts Review}}{{Cite web |last=Ryder |first=Adam |date=2014-11-01 |title=Naoko Wowsugi |url=https://photographmag.com/in-the-studio/november-december-2014-in-the-studio/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Photograph |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Jenkins |first=Mark |date=2015-01-30 |title=In the galleries: At Hamiltonian, a birthday celebration of a different sort |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/in-the-galleries-at-hamiltonian-a-birthday-celebration-of-a-different-sort/2015/01/29/96d1fc36-a56f-11e4-a06b-9df2002b86a0_story.html |access-date=2024-01-26 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In 2001,{{Cite news |last=O'Sullivan |first=Michael |date=2013-11-21 |title=Art review: Ed Bisese and Lisa Brotman at the A.U. Museum |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/art-review-ed-bisese-and-lisa-brotman-at-the-au-museum/2013/11/21/76fc8a4e-4e17-11e3-9890-a1e0997fb0c0_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post}} Wowsugi emigrated to the United States and began attending the Kansas City Art Institute.{{Cite web |last=Kaufmann |first=Gina |date=2005-08-18 |title=Tails of the City |url=https://www.thepitchkc.com/tails-of-the-city/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=The Pitch |language=en-US}} She then pursued a masters degree in photography at Virginia Commonwealth University, graduating in 2011.

Career

Wowsugi has taught at Virginia Commonwealth University and American University. In 2024, she received American University's Green Teacher of the Year Award.{{Cite web |title=Professor Naoco Wowsugi is named AU's Green Teacher of the Year |url=https://www.theeagleonline.com/article/2024/05/professor-naoco-wowsugi-is-named-aus-green-teacher-of-the-year |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=The Eagle |language=en}}

Since 2012, Wowsugi has been undertaking the performance piece "None of Your Business", in which she makes surreptitious improvements to community spaces she visits. Such improvements included slowly installing artwork at a local bakery, leaving small cowbells at businesses without someone at the counter, and bringing a mug to a coffee shop to act as a straw holder.{{Cite web |title=None of Your Business |url=https://www.wowsugi.com/none-of-your-business/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Naoco Wowsugi |language=en-US}}

In 2015, Wowsugi exhibited at Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the exhibit comprised pieces created by her students to wish her a happy birthday.

Since 2018, Wowsugi has hosted the Very Sad Lab with Valerie Wiseman at Halcyon Arts Lab. The project explores "healing between plants and their owners". As part of the project, Wowsugi and Wiseman established a pollinator garden on the rooftop of the Eaton Hotel.

In 2019, Wowsugi became a Humanities Truck Fellow, awarded by American University. The fellowship allows artists to use a truck to create a piece or project. Wowsugi originally wanted to use her fellowship to undertake a group portrait project in D.C., but shifted gears after the COVID-19 pandemic placed restrictions on in-person gatherings. Instead, she used the truck as a way to deliver food, first "to communities around the city" and then to Black Lives Matter protests later in 2020.

= Group portraits =

Wowsugi's first group portraits took place in 2010 and 2011 in Richmond, Virginia. She took photos of groups of people who were connected in some way, such as a shared employer, subculture, or religious community. The first portrait was of people in the Virginia Commonwealth University Graduate Photography and Film Department, where Wowsugi was studying.

Since 2011, Wowsugi has taken attendance for the classes she teaches by taking a group photo of her students.{{Cite web |title=ATTENDANCE |url=https://www.wowsugi.com/attendance/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Naoco Wowsugi |language=en-US}}

In 2015, Wowsugi created Group Portrait Journey in Rockville, Maryland, a photography exhibit showcasing the relationships of individuals who support the VisArts center in Rockville, Maryland.{{Cite news |date=2015-09-17 |title=In the galleries: Heading home |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/in-the-galleries-heading-home/2015/09/17/bfff4ffa-5bb3-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

= Thank You for Teaching Me English =

In 2013,{{Cite web |title=Thank You for Teaching Me English |url=https://www.wowsugi.com/ |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=Naoco Wowsugi |language=en-US}} Wowsugi began her photography project, Thank You for Teaching Me English. The project includes 30 portraits, each depicting a person from Wowsugi's life who helped her acclimate to life in the United States, as they speak a word they taught her.{{Cite web |title=Naoko Wowsugi; 'Atlas Obscura' Book |url=https://www.kcur.org/show/central-standard/2017-11-08/naoko-wowsugi-atlas-obscura-book |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=KCUR |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Catlin |first=Roger |date=2016-03-21 |title=Every Three Years, Artists Compete to Be On View at the National Portrait Gallery. Here Are the Winners |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/every-three-years-artists-compete-on-view-national-portrait-gallery-winners-180958490/ |access-date=2024-07-01 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}} The exhibit was first shown in late 2013 at the American University Museum. In 2014, the exhibit was shown at Hamiltonian Gallery.{{Cite news |last=O'Sullivan |first=Michael |date=2014-09-25 |title='new. now.' at Hamiltonian Gallery |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/museums/new-now-at-hamiltonian-gallery/2014/09/25/f78cdfb4-4287-11e4-b47c-f5889e061e5f_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

In 2016, the exhibition was a finalist in the National Portrait Gallery's The Outwin contest.{{Cite web |title=Thank You for Teaching Me English |url=https://portraitcompetition.si.edu/exhibition/2016-outwin-boochever-portrait-competition/thank-you-for-teaching-me-english/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=The Outwin: American Portraiture Today {{!}} Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Kennicott |first=Philip |date=2016-03-11 |title=The National Portrait Gallery announces winners of The Outwin competition |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/03/11/the-national-portrait-gallery-announces-winners-of-the-outwin-2016-competition/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

= Permacounterculture =

In 2016, Wowsugi first presented the installation piece Permacounterculture at Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington, D.C. The piece comprised a white cube-shaped structure, which functioned as both a greenhouse and a music venue. Over the course of the gallery run, wheatgrass was grown in the cube, as recordings of punk music played or as local hardcore musicians performed live at the gallery. Staffers then processed the wheatgrass into shots for gallery attendees and the performers.{{Cite web |date=2016-08-25 |title=With 'Permacounterculture,' Naoko Wowsugi Turns Hamiltonian Gallery Into a Green House and a Punk Venue |url=http://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/328350/permacounterculture-naoko-wowsugi/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Washington City Paper |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2016-08-22 |title=This DC Art Gallery Is Using Punk Rock to Grow Plants |url=https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/08/22/dc-art-gallery-using-punk-rock-grow-plants/ |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=Washingtonian |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Saito |first=Fuyumi |date=2016-09-06 |title=Naoko Wowsugi "Permacounterculture" |url=http://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2016/09/naoko-wowsugi-permacounterculture.html |access-date=2024-01-26 |website=SHIFT |language=en}}

= Fungus Among Us =

In 2019, Wowsugi worked with Enough Pie, a non-profit in Charleston, South Carolina, to organize the "Fungus Among Us" exhibition at Redux Contemporary Art Center. The exhibition included pieces made by local artists and community members, including students, and interactive elements, such as a map of polaroid photos which visitors could contribute to.{{Cite web |last=Oyer |first=Kalyn |date=2019-03-13 |title='Fungus Among Us' art exhibit at Redux shows how Charleston is connected |url=https://www.postandcourier.com/charleston_scene/fungus-among-us-art-exhibit-at-redux-shows-how-charleston-is-connected/article_cd8be12e-3f5d-11e9-a1f0-bf66f80a10fe.html |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Post and Courier |language=en}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2019-03-13 |title=Redux and Enough Pie team up to show us how mushrooms connect everything and everyone |url=https://charlestoncitypaper.com/2019/03/13/redux-and-enough-pie-team-up-to-show-us-how-mushrooms-connect-everything-and-everyone/ |access-date=2024-12-03 |website=Charleston City Paper |language=en-US}}

Personal life

After moving to the U.S., Wowsugi has sometimes gone by the name Amber Wolf, after hearing her Japanese name be "butchered". She moved to Washington, D.C., in 2013.