Noa Yekutieli

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

Engaging various mediums, including installation, assemblage, and a signature manual paper-cutting technique, I explore personal narratives and multi-hyphen identities within the context of immigration, assimilation, and conflict. The manual paper-cutting contains a long-duration meditative process, one that stands in contrast to the fast-paced digital world we are living in; I seek to look deeper into the consequences of our actions, finding high importance in staying present with the void. Drawing from my Japanese heritage, I cut negative spaces within a singular piece of black paper through which I explore negative space as a present element, one that creates a space rather than being mere emptiness. Coming from a multicultural family, my works often combine a diversity of materials that echo longing for unknown singular origins and fractured notions of home. As a Japanese-American-Israeli, I use objects, crafts, and heritage techniques to nurture my sense of belonging, rooting my work with underlying narratives. Through my practice, I attempt to reconcile what can be seen as odds. I often merge flora patterns and imagery of destruction to consider the emotional camouflage mechanisms we develop as individuals and as a society, especially around conflict and loss. Through the juxtaposition of patterns of destruction and nature, I raise questions about the similarities and differences within these cycles. I explore how camouflaging the painful reality can both help and...

Artwork