The Songs They Sang, 2018

The Ama, female pearl divers from Japan. Their origins date back to 750AD. Ama, in Japanese, means “woman of the sea.” This heroic group of women, from Ise-Shima Peninsula Japan, dove deep into the Pacific, searching for shellfish, seaweed, and pearls.  Due to a deep connection with the sea, I naturally gravitated to the Ama. Their mutual respect, ability to work and raise families together, and their strong bonds and friendships deeply touched and inspired me. This ancient form of diving is still happening today; however, the current generation of female divers could be the last. Sadly, this practice has not been passed along to the daughters or granddaughters. Times have changed, and the work is hard. The women often swam in freezing temperatures and trained their lungs to sustain underwater for 3 minutes at a time. Most of the women that you see portrayed in my work are now in their 80s and are still diving.  The research has been enormously inspiring to me. I feel a connection to sportsmanship, femininity, and camaraderie. In this body of work, I portray each character based on the history of the Ama to my female friendships. I surround myself with women who also love the sea, balance work with family, and find the time to have authentic friendships. While the women portrayed in my woodcuts derive from photographs documented between 1932-1948, they too are inspired by women in my personal life.