In 2012, photographer Sayuri Ichida began her path to New York. Following a similar path was Japanese ballet dancer, Mayu Oguri. They met in 2017, and formed a friendship out of a shared struggle to settle in a foreign country–the overwhelm of self-doubt, alienation, depression, and lingering regret. These experiences of displacement became the impetus for their ongoing photographic collaboration Stranger in a Strange Land. As the series sees Mayu perform ballet movements in unorthodox locations, Sayuri captures the ebb and flow of an immigrant’s search for belonging in a foreign country.

- Alexa Fahlman

Mayu is a Japanese ballet dancer who currently works for the New York Theatre Ballet. We are both immigrants from Japan, and our paths to New York were similar, with both of us spending a few years in Europe before coming and settling in the city on our own. On our journeys to New York we both experienced various degrees of self-doubt, alienation, depression and at times regret, ultimately followed by a sense of reawakening and rediscovery of our inner selves. With this series I aim to convey some part of the jarring experiences we independently shared as immigrants looking for their place in a foreign country.

Can you speak more about your path to New York as a Japanese immigrant? What made you want to settle in New York? Do you miss Japan?

Before I left Japan, I was into the fashion industry and I always had this impression that Japanese fashion was influenced by western trends. At that time I was working at a commercial photography studio and tired of seeing these copied ideas and creations. I made up my mind and decided to move to a place where the trends are born. I first spent two years in London where I first got a taste of life as an immigrant. In 2012, due to a visa issue I had to leave the UK and set the next destination to New York. After spending a few years far from my home country, I gradually started rediscovering the beauty of my own culture.

As time has passed, how does your experience compare to what you expected?

Every goal I aimed for took much longer than I anticipated, but I feel that part of the experience and the setbacks we experience as immigrants are necessary to move us forward.

In retrospect, what was the hardest part about immigrating to America? Would you have done anything differently? Do you have any advice for those wanting to follow a similar journey?

Dealing with the feeling of being an outsider was the hardest part for me as an immigrant rather than technical issues such as language barrier or visa issues. If I could have done something differently, I would say that is to go to a university in a foreign country rather than just going to a language school or go straight to start living in the country. I was young and didn’t think realistically back then, but putting yourself in a situation where you have no choice but to communicate with other people and use their own language and idioms is essential to understanding the culture.

How does the political tension and anti-immigrant rhetoric in America affect you personally–your work, and your art?

I try to ignore politics in general, but the anti-immigrant rhetoric offends me to my core.

Dancers usually perform on stage, but because I shot Mayu on locations that could be considered unorthodox for a dancer, the combination of a ballerina and outdoor scenery gives the series a sense of dissonance. To emphasize this effect I knew that I had to do things differently from a typical dancer’s portrait so I also deliberately set out to shoot her as an object in a frame. I kept asking her to express something different from beautiful formal ballet dance. Everything she does as a dancer is so beautiful, so I asked her not to be too beautiful.

Mayu’s pregnancy with her first child in 2019 was a beautiful occasion for both of us to rethink the meaning behind this series. We decided to continue in the same style, shooting on location throughout the city. I personally find the the lines of Mayu’s body against the bare colorful backgrounds of city walls astonishing. To me they represent the beauty and grace of becoming a mother, as well as the strength that is expected from a woman to be one. I see these pictures as a reminder that our future should always take priority over our past.

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