Naoko Mikami chose the artist name Fuh-mi, which means ‘not beautiful,’ to stand out in a field where names are often stylish and elegant.
Going against the trends
Nick: Let's talk about you as the artist, you have an artist name, which is Fuh-mi. So what does that name mean?
Naoko: Yes, thank you for asking this question. I'm happy to answer.
Nick: I'm excited to hear the answer.
Naoko: Fuh-mi means not beautiful. So many people asked asked me why I chose this name. Especially in Taiwan, because we use mostly the same kanji, so they understand the meaning, and why I chose this strange name, they wondered.
Well, in Japanese calligraphy world, people tend to choose very stylish, elegant, beautiful, sometimes even snobbish calligrapher name. I always find it kind of stupid. (Sorry for my language) So I decided to go punk instead.
Nick: That's not uncommon for artists to go against, I guess the main conservative ideals, and express themselves with, ‘I'm gonna go against this and I have a different perspective or a different idea.’
Naoko: Yeah, that's why I chose Fuh-mi, and also I tend to suffer from very strong imposter syndrome. So choosing Fuh-mi, ‘not beautiful’, as a calligrapher name was very appealing to my imposter syndrome, somehow.
Nick: Wow. Well, that's That's an interesting idea, the imposter syndrome of a professional calligrapher. Because it's subjective, too, and it's artistic expression. Yeah, that's interesting.
So I never imagined, I didn't imagine you'd have impostor syndrome, but I guess many people do—artists do, I do, I'm an Australian talking about ikigai, so I have a lot of impostor syndrome, and I do worry about this stuff. Maybe we all have impostor syndrome.
Naoko: Yes, maybe. Life is tough.