10 Questions with Norino Shi
Norino Shi is an award-winning digital artist, illustrator, director, and visual narrative artist. Born in China and currently based in New York, she has produced illustration commissions for a number of personal and commercial clients and has her works showcased in multiple galleries across the world. Her works mainly focus on females, Asian immigrants, and uncertainty about the universe & life and death. Considering herself as a Global Citizen, her works also include a considerable number of fantasy-style works, mainly landscapes, with a view to creating a free spiritual world by stepping out of the shackles of space and time at present. She currently works as a Digital Art Program Coordinator for an independent female bookstore & publishing agency.
Norino Shi - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
Norino Shi describes her artistic practice as an attempt to start from the LGBTQ feminists but personal to herself. Asians, females, and confusion about the universe and life and death are recurring themes in her work. The first two come from her identity. As an Asian female working in a foreign country, she often feels deeply that this group is almost invisible in key discourses. But at the same time, she is often pushed to the front lines of various issues and becomes a victim - such as yellow fever or being on the forefront of political issues only to be forgotten or erased later. The latter two come from the nature of humanity and the universe; humans are so insignificant compared to the observable universe within their current perception that this "insignificant existence" itself can cause anxiety about whether it makes sense to do anything at all. For Norino, her East Asian upbringing was devoid of education about life and death, and this absence has left her as an adult still unsettled, and she can only try to alleviate it by asking herself questions in my artworks.
INTERVIEW
Please, introduce yourself to our readers. What is your background, and why did you decide to be an artist in the first place?
I describe myself as a digital artist and illustrator. I came to New York from China 9 years ago, received my BFA and MFA, both in art direction and started my career as an illustrator here. I have won many illustration awards for a number of personal and commercial clients and have showcased my works in multiple galleries across the world. My works mainly focus on female Asian immigrants and uncertainty about the universe & life and death, with various materials from digital illustrations and experimental short films to installation sculptures to weave all these. I consider myself as a Global Citizen, so my works also include a considerable number of fantasy-style works, mainly landscapes, with a view to creating a free spiritual world by stepping out of the shackles of space and time at present. Currently, I work as a freelance illustrator and program coordinator for an independent female bookstore & publishing agency.
The initial idea of pursuing this career was simple - I am very unsociable, I have a very bad stutter even in my native tongue, and I wanted to be able to express my ideas without words, i.e., through images. Regrettably, in retrospect, this was not the case at all, and the industry is arguably one of the most demanding in terms of self-expression. But fortunately, I did reach a reconciliation with myself by creating images and developing a path of self-exploration that I felt comfortable with.
Illustrations for Tajik Pattern Book, Digital, 22x18 in, 2022 © Norino Shi
What is your personal aim as an artist?
To me, this is a big question, and the standard answer is: I'm still exploring. To some extent, these personal aims change in stages. In the beginning, I wanted to use art to make money to support myself; then, it became a complex mix of the desire to share, the wish to be recognized, the anxiety to express, and so on and so forth. Nothing in this world seems to stay the same, and neither does art making. Styles change, subjects change, and so do the things that are sought after.
At this stage, I want to portray what interests me through art, and most of the things that interest me at the moment are related to my personal background. I want to explore and make peace with my past through art and hopefully gain some inner peace and strength for the future in the process. I am pleased to find that some of the works I have created have not only accomplished these goals but also, happily, have evoked in others - the audience - a sense of empathy for a few topics or groups of people. Not every goal or initiative to "change the world" or "save the world" needs to be so grandiose - even if it saves one person, even if it's yourself, that's still a purpose to me.
To be more specific - at this stage, my personal goal as an artist is to gain resonance for the things I belong to or love through my work, to bring some social attention, and, in the process, to prove the significance of my existence as an individual.
Poster Design for Quanzhou City, Digital, 22x18 in, 2022 © Norino Shi
You primarily work with illustration and tackle important themes, such as females, Asian immigrants, LGBTQ+, and feminism. How would you define yourself as an artist? And how has this definition changed over the years?
As mentioned above, my artistic goals at this stage of my career are centered around themes that are relevant to my personal background. Thus, I would describe my artistic practice as an attempt to start from the LGBTQ feminists but personal to me. Asians, females, and confusion about the universe and life and death are recurring themes in my work. The first two come from my identity - as an Asian female working in a foreign country, I often feel deeply that this group is almost invisible in key discourses, but at the same time is often pushed to the front lines of various issues and become a victim - such as yellow fever, or being on the forefront of political issues only to be forgotten or erased later. The latter two come from the nature of humanity and the universe; we are so insignificant compared to the observable universe within our current perception that this "insignificant existence" itself can cause anxiety about whether it makes sense to do anything at all. For me, my East Asian upbringing was devoid of education about life and death, and this absence has left me as an adult still unsettled. I can only try to alleviate it by asking myself questions in my artworks.
One of the interesting things that has changed over time is that I've gone from shying away from talking about things that are personally relevant to me - for example, in the early part of my career, I liked to pursue grandiose creative themes or create other people's stories - to beginning to express my own personal puzzles and explorations in a euphemistic way. The most rewarding aspect of being an artist and creative for me is the ability to always maintain a keen insight into the world. Through my creations, I am able to explore and present things that we often overlook or don't give enough value to, thus allowing the viewer to re-examine and feel the world. At the same time, as an artist, I am also very conscious of maintaining empathy and sympathy. I try to understand and present people's emotions and inner feelings and share these feelings with the audience.
In addition, an artist does not necessarily need to love the world or always express positive content. I get to express my own insecurities and anxieties or portray a side of the world that is not touched by light. As long as the artist brings his or her own insight and soul to the creation, it will be full of unique meaning.
Why did you choose illustration specifically? What does this medium represent for you?
This answer may be a bit surprising - perhaps if I were to do it all over again, I probably wouldn't have chosen illustration. I initially chose illustration simply because I love to draw, and from a practical point of view, illustration was considered one of the "better paying" art careers. However, it doesn't seem to be the case at all nowadays.
But there's no magic in the world to go back and change your choices. So, over the years, I've been exploring what this medium means to me. First of all, it's still my favorite way to create - drawing and nothing else. Drawing relieves my anxiety and allows me to express ideas that I can't quite put into words. Secondly, illustration has allowed me to develop a keen observation of life - when you don't know whether the next client will ask you to draw a kitten or a walrus, you're paying attention to every detail of life and recording it. As a by-product of this, I have traveled to many parts of the world and have an extensive photographic record. When I'm in my car driving across the ocean at night, the first thing I see is the stars in the sky - that sort of thing.
And the last thing is that I get to hear other people's stories when working on a client's request for a subject - other people's fantasies, visions, ideas, joys, sorrows, pain, and peace. And they give me a chance to listen and to record these things. After a project is completed, it's rewarding to hear a client say that the work, consciously or unconsciously, conveyed a vision they had buried in their heart. The world is a big place, and each person is a small world; in such encounters, I have seen a wider world beyond my own life.
Poster Design for Sunrise Bilingual, Digital, 22x18 in, 2022 © Norino Shi
Rotation of the Year, Digital, 22x18 in, 2022 © Norino Shi
Speaking of your work, you mostly work digitally. What do you think of the recent discussion around AI and Ai generated art?
Let's just say that it might be a tool, but it definitely needs more regulations. In fact, I had a class during my master's that looked at AI art coding. It's just that at that point in time, none of us in that class had any idea that it would evolve at an unforeseen rapid pace and flow out at a time when society wasn't really ready for it. In a way, it's a little bit like Pandora's Box. There is no good or evil in the tools themselves; it depends on the people who use them. Those who revel in the unregulated use of AI don't realize that, as it stands, AI's works depend on dismembering and then reassembling human artist's works. And once the raw material they dismembered is gone, AI can't do anything about it. And from another perspective, dismembered corpses, even when put together to resemble a life, lack a soul. But we can't stuff what has been born back into the box, and the entanglement between AI and artists will be a long-term problem.
How do you keep a cohesive style working with many different themes?
In fact, I've already had one major change in my art style. Switching between the two styles went smoother than I thought it would, so I don't think it's as difficult as I thought it would be to maintain a cohesive style. Of course, I'll be conscious of keeping it that way. For example, if I'm working on a set of works with an architectural theme, I'll dig out my previous works with similar themes, and then, while respecting the current subject matter, I'll try to stay close to the previous works in some details: maybe it's the pattern of the frames, the symmetry of the compositions, or the choice of the color palettes. Illustration is a profession that puts a lot of emphasis on cohesive style; when an art director goes through your portfolio, they'll want to see a unified style so they can know what to expect from your next ones.
In addition to this, over the years, I have built up a library of inspirations; they include photographs from my travels, classical art reference books, pattern collections, etc. These have been filtered through my personal aesthetic so that the ideas inspired by them can be sustained to a certain extent.
Pixel Art Background, Digital, 8x4.5 in, 2023 © Norino Shi
What are the main messages you would like to communicate with your art?
I think this issue has already been covered in the previous section. In short, I want my work to convey a concern for the more hidden groups, an exploration of existence itself, and a yearning for the unknown. As an artist and creative, I have always had a desire to explore the stars, the sea, and faraway places. I love to explore uncharted territories and undiscovered things through my work, constantly challenging my creative abilities and imagination. This spirit of exploration makes me feel that life is full of infinite possibilities and inspires me to keep pursuing higher artistic achievements.
And where do you draw your inspiration for your work?
From many things - the world's landscapes, creatures, other people's stories, the inspiration of a few words in a chat, museum collections, classical art collections (especially etching and line arts), traditional art patterns from all over the world, religious decorations and the passions revealed in them, the corners of life, the stars and the sea, the mountains in the distance - in short, everything I can see and am seen by.
Is there anything else you would like to experiment with in your work and career?
I think it might be something related to moving images or video. On the one hand, with the influence of social media, freelance illustrators are far less likely to post still images than moving videos if they want to attract attention, and on the other hand, I'm very interested in the movie-related industry. I have made some short film projects and found the process very interesting. So, in the future, I might want to combine the two and do something new.
And lastly, what are your future projects? Is there any you can share with our readers?
I'm working on a fantasy project that I'm really excited about. This is a collection of fantasy illustrations produced by the three artists. Based on the daily lives of the three original characters, the digital drawings are combined with handmade collages of paper and fabric to ensure that each book is unique, presenting their different backgrounds and living environments but intertwining friendship in a fictional space. I've never done a book or zine-type thing before, and I've never really written a story about my own original characters. It's an idea that's been around for a long time, but it's always been in pieces and never really assembled into anything. So, I'm really excited about this project; our first zine is about to be unveiled (in September) at a book fair in New York, and I'm hoping it all goes well.
Artist’s Talk
Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.
