Bio
Michael Takahata was born in 1996 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to a Japanese father and a Finnish mother. As a multimedia sculptor, Michael’s work primarily revolves around small scale narrative ceramics and low relief wood carvings. His work serves as a reflection of his experiences growing up biracial in Oklahoma. By drawing on his dual heritage, he integrates aspects of Japanese and Finnish craft traditions, using clay and wood to reimagine these techniques in his own way. His work serves as a sculptural archive, reflecting on stories of love and loss.
Michael attended the University of Oklahoma, where he received a BFA in studio art with an emphasis in painting and figurative sculpture. His academic journey continued at OU, where he spent an additional two years in a post baccalaureate ceramics program. He then pursued a Master of Fine Arts in ceramics at Cranbrook Academy of Art. His artistic practice is informed by his upbringing and personal experiences and seeks to bridge the divide between personal storytelling and the broader biracial diasporic experience. Through his work, Michael strives to offer nuanced perspectives on heritage, belonging, and childhood.
Artist Statement
A life formed from dissonant parts. Fragmented languages and customs that felt both familiar and foreign. I grew up tangled in the threads of two distinct cultures, always trying to understand how they wove together being the third son of a Japanese father and Finnish mother raised in Oklahoma.
My parents, like many others, were cautious. They feared differences would be a burden, and their desire to protect us meant some parts of our heritage remained quiet, softened, or unspoken. I learned early on what I need to do to pass, and am fortunate in my racial ambiguity that I could fabricate a version of myself that could quietly pass through society. Unfortunately through this self-assimilation of culture, I denied the parts of myself that made me who I am. The queer, biracial kid from Oklahoma shaped by cultures I wasn’t ready to acknowledge and carried histories I didn’t yet know how to hold.
With time I began to look within, analyzing the cultural fragments obscured through years of repression, coalesced into layered symbols.