Born and raised in New York, Saki studies at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and is somehow able to pull off all the fluorescent hair colours of your wildest middle school dreams, flaunting that effortless cool that New Yorkers seem to be born with. We talked about the importance of producing quality art, representation, and the art of storytelling. -Amy

A screenshot from one of Saki's animations.

How do you define yourself as a creative?

I’m studying film and TV – that’s my major. And then I have a minor in child mental illness and [I’m] probably applying for a BEMT (Business of Entertainment, Music and Technology) minor as well.

I’m still trying to define what my medium is. Right now I’m trying to experiment in drawing and animation and trying to find a passion within the film industry.

How do you see your identity as an Asian person?

“Forget” is the wrong word for this but sometimes I forget that that’s what people see me as. ‘Cause obviously, my facial features. But I feel like sometimes I don’t take full responsibility of my Asian identity as much as I should. Maybe I should be doing more to represent myself.

Do you see yourself as more American than Asian?

I see myself more as a New Yorker than anything. I don’t really like to say I’m American. I like to say I’m a New Yorker because I feel like that’s very different from the rest of America.

And also, depending on the question, like “where are you from?”, then I suddenly remember, oh people want the answer – Japan, not New York. That’s when I’m like, oh that’s how people see me.

So you see yourself as a New Yorker and then you’re reminded by other people that they don’t necessarily see you as that?

Yeah. I feel like I’m saying it as if it’s a bad thing, but I’m not. I just wish I recognized that more.

Do you have a strong relationship with your cultural heritage?

Not as much as I’d like to. I’m first-generation, my parents came from Japan. I feel like they tried to raise me up more Western than they would have if they brought me up in Japan. So I think they tried to be more lenient and didn’t try to pressure me into learning Japanese that much, or to press that culture on me. I now I wish that they did, although back then when I was tiny, I didn’t really want that.

Do you speak Japanese?

I speak enough to talk to my parents and to get by if I ever visited Japan, but not enough to maybe live there.

“I feel like I have a responsibility to make quality art and film ‘cause that’s what I’m putting out there.”

Does your ethnic identity or Asian identity present itself in your artwork?

It didn’t use to, but I’m trying to consciously put that in there now, especially through animation. I’m taking my first animation class and for my final I really want to have an element of cultural background in there, whether it’s my personal one or people of colour in general.

Our teacher is asking us to submit two treatments. For one of them, I’m thinking of doing an abstract 2D digital film of figures forming into other figures and merging in and out. For example, I’m thinking of the rising sun image with the Japanese flag, and that turning into an eye, and then that forming into a comment about Asian eyelids, how people sometimes don’t know about that, so if they catch that then it’s great, but if they don’t it forms into a silhouetted figure, and metaphorically goes through my life. And then it would go back to the setting sun at the end.

Do you have a specific target audience? Is it for the general public?

I’m thinking about the message I’m putting out there no matter who sees it. I feel like I have a responsibility to make quality art and film cause that’s what I’m putting out there.

Do you wanna talk about some of the films you’ve made and the message you want to portray in them?

Last semester I did my first short film for a class. It was about a group of friends, but I focused on two best friends within that group. And one of them I wrote as an Asian American character and she was feeling stuck in high school, not knowing where she wanted to go to college, and in life and what to pursue. Her friends were all excited and applying to college and knew what they wanted. ‘Cause I was in that place in high school. I wrote it mostly about high school, not her identity, but I did try and sprinkle that into conversations. I think that stories about people of colour shouldn’t be just because they’re people of colour.

“And then suddenly I feel like I’m under a spotlight and they see me as a representation of Japan even though I’m not.”

Have you ever felt pressure to be representative of your entire ethnicity or race?

Yeah. Every time I’m reminded that something I do might be stereotyped as Asian, I get very self-conscious. Except when I’m with my other Asian friends and they understand and we joke around about it.

This might be a bit paranoid of me but whenever I meet a new person and they’re not Asian, they’re maybe white, European or something, and we start talking small talk about where we’re from, and sometimes they’re very interested in Japan but they’re not actually Japanese or Asian. And then suddenly I feel like I’m under a spotlight and they see me as a representation of Japan even though I’m not. And they keep asking me questions, and I’m like, I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about my culture [laughs] basically. I really need to learn more about Japan.

Do you feel like you fit into an Asian community either in your childhood, growing up in New York, in Queens or at NYU?

At NYU I do. Most of my friends happen to be Asian. I went to an international school K through 12 here in Manhattan, so I never really thought of an Asian community, more of a people of colour community. All my friends were usually people of colour. Some of them happened to be Japanese but a majority were international.

What does it mean to you to identify as a person of colour in American or Western politics today?

That’s a loaded question. I feel like that puts more pressure on every person of colour. I’m a lot more invested in politics now, especially since the inauguration. And I feel like it’s more of a fight within the whole community of people of colour, not just Asians or Hispanics or Blacks. So I feel a lot more solidarity with the people protesting. I didn’t realise there was so much of that support before. Maybe we didn’t worry about it as much during the Obama administration.

In politics when the term “people of colour” is said it’s usually the Black Lives Matter movement, or the whole wall building thing. (Oh my god.) I have to admit I do forget that I am under that category when something is said about people of colour from the White House or something. ‘Cause although I support the Black Lives Matter movement, I forget that I’m a part of that. I’m not white.

Sometimes I don’t feel like I’m allowed to voice my opinion cause others might think, oh you’re not black, oh you’re not Hispanic, you don’t know. But then I remember, oh wait, I am a person of colour, I am a woman, I’m a minority. So I guess I do have a valid voice, sometimes, when it’s appropriate.

Oh, but about film representation - whenever there’s talk about diversity in TV and film, most of that diversity is categorised by if there’s a black person or Hispanic person, and I don’t realise usually that there are no Asian people in a lot of the TV shows and movies that I watch. And it kind of concerns me that I don’t even notice until someone points it out to me. And representation really matters. Not just in film. Like, my friend who is a chem major, she recently met an astrophysics professor, who is a woman, at her all-girls school. And when she met this female doctor, she realised that she might wanna be an astrophysicist. She thought, oh this woman is an astrophysicist, maybe I could be one too.

“I mostly just love the art of storytelling, especially on a very human level. I love human behaviour, as individuals and as mass groups of people. How they act and react.”

Do you have any artistic role models or influences? Work that you really like?

All of the Ghibli movies. Both for how beautiful they are in terms of animation, but also the messages and stories of these girls and their adventures. Miyazaki wanted to portray childhood in an innocent, adventurous, and also empowering way for young girls in Japan. I look up to that.

Did you always know that you wanted to pursue film and animation?

No… well, animation – I took this class mostly because my friend, Cha, recommended it. And I thought, why not try every route I can? Film – I never had a passion for it before I came to NYU. I did have an interest, obviously, or else I wouldn’t have applied. I mostly just love the art of storytelling, especially on a very human level. I love human behaviour, as individuals and as mass groups of people. How they act and react.

How was your decision to pursue an artistic field received by your parents and family?

My mom was always supportive. Growing up, every time I’d write a poem she’d be like, “oh you’re gonna be a famous author one day,” or every time I drew something, “oh you’re gonna be a famous artist,” which kind of put pressure on me. But my dad, he thought I was gonna go to Princeton for some reason. I never even applied. He bought merchandise and everything, like dad, I’m not going to Princeton. He wanted me to be an architect or something more mathematical. Or a lawyer. Or something like that. But I think what turned him around was the fact that it was NYU and it was one of the few schools that he actually knew about in America, and how famous it was.

I feel like there’s a perception that first-generation Asian-Americans have a disconnect with our parents, largely because they have very different expectations for us. Do you feel that your family fits into or is different from that?

Yeah there’s definitely a disconnect. I think it’s evenly split between my fault and kind of my parents’ fault. For example, we don’t really talk about deep issues like politics and social issues. I also don’t really know what their views are, politically. I doubt that they’re Trump supporters, but I try to avoid that just cause I don’t want to start anything. I keep those conversations within my friends and classrooms. When it’s appropriate.

View one of Saki’s animations here.

Follow Saki’s instagram at @starkidsaki.

Interview by Amy Ni.