Escapist
by Emily Kako Masuda
This series reflects the magic of nostalgia through representations of my childhood hyperfixations. Our perceptions of past memories are made up of vivid visuals, overwhelming emotions, and a sense of pleasant simplification. However, to recall the past is also to experience the disorientation and dissonance of loss. Nostalgia has the power to transform loss and longing into something palatable, intriguing, and dream-like. Do we capture nostalgia, or does nostalgia capture us?
Watercolor and mixed media on paper. 13” x 9.5”
About the Author
Emily K. Masuda received her BA from New York University in 2019. After graduation, she pursued her artistic career in the makeup industry upon being formally trained in makeup for film and editorial photography. She later discovered her passion for the study of beauty-making in a sociocultural context and made the decision to return to NYU, where she is now a master’s student in the XE Interdisciplinary Studies program. She continues to create art in her spare time, and her pieces are influenced by the memories of her early 2000’s childhood years.