Niohuru is a NYC and LA-based Chinese Manchu makeup artist and creative director who expresses their journey and stories through their artistry. Portion will be featuring Niohuru's newest work for the first time at our NFT NYC event on Friday, June 24! Check out the significance behind Niohuru's piece and their shining transformation through life below!
Hi Niohuru! Can you please tell us a bit about yourself and your work? You’ve expressed that you use your artistry to share your stories and support people similar to yourself. How has your journey of you becoming the trans woman that you are and the survivor of a conversion therapy camp, fueled the way you work and tie into your identity?
My name is Niohuru X! I am known for creating 3D makeup that looks like digital art. I use my creative journey to explore the ying & yang/light & darkness of humanity while blurring the lines between physical and digital art. My works are often inspired by trauma, sexuality, and nature with colors from my beautiful Manchurian cultural background. I am a storyteller, through the language of human emotions. I am a shapeshifter, sprouting from a glamorous Eastern nightmare.
Like oat milk in my coffee
I poured nightmares, anger and fear on my face.
And the darkness emerge to the surface
In twisted but pretty shapes
just like
Oat milk in my coffee
Bitter
It keeps me awake
It pumps the thing people call heart
in my empty chest
One two three
One two three
I always wonder
Will my demons eventually go away
Cry with no tears
I picked up brushes
It’s like doodling on my skin
The strokes, shapes and colors
Looking in the mirror
My demon is looking back at me
With fear in her eyes too
From his dying bed
She is the new god
I became her
She is me
She captured my nights and past
And i became her
Pain is like a cage
Some bird can’t be caged
She will fly with bloody feathers
Diving into the dark cloud that has been following her
Looking in the mirror
I see light
That creature is evil
Evil but beautiful
On his dying bed
She is the new god
The demon he used to see with his eyes shut
Is she
She is his future
He paints her face on his skin
He became her
Underneath the mask
Is she
Is he
Is the beast
The abomination
The sinner
The sweet boy next door
Who has done nothing wrong
but everything wrong
Is dead
From his dying bed
She is the new god
Wow, not only are you an artist, but you also have a passion for Chinese Manchu culture. Has your culture and love for your country influenced the evolution of your artistic style? What excites you most about creating a new piece?
I am Chinese Manchu. Niohuru is my Manchu name. We are a dying minority in China with a glorious history and beautiful language. My Chinese Manchu background really nourishes my art and who I am as a human being. I am proud of where I come from and I will keep showing my love for my culture through my art. I think of my signature aesthetic as twisted but beautiful. The twisted parts are usually the reflection of my trauma and the beautiful elegant sides are usually empowered by the Manchu goddess inside me.
The journey of my art is my journey of self-becoming, a love song to my pain. Just like a puzzle, every artwork is a piece to the puzzle. I have no idea what the puzzle looks like but I'm dying to find out with each piece closer and closer to the unknown.
You are inspiring to say the least! Can you touch on your newest work, SKINSEQ-GERMINATION, that you will be showcasing for the first time at Portion for our NFT NYC immersive event? Why did you choose this piece specifically for the event?
This is my first time collaborating with a 3D artist! Suki Violet is an amazing Chinese visual artist. Her work is such a magical experience. It is truly an honor to work with her on this piece and bring my vision to life. It is very interesting to see how my makeup interacts with the digital twin of my look. The immersive space is perfect to showcase the “sprouting” and the organic fluid movements.
This piece was inspired by the beginning of Niohuru. There went the old me with the darkness, from the ashes rose the new me. The new me is what the old me was terrified and ashamed of. This piece is also the beginning of a brand new chapter of my artistry, which is bringing the physical and digital side of my art closer to each other and creating more positive tension within the same “frame”.
This film has a very special place in my heart, it needs a special space for people to see. Portion is known for their beautiful diverse curation of artwork and their support/love for artists of different backgrounds. It is my honor to show my work along with other proud members of Portion.
You’re generously offering to donate the entire profit of “Evil Sprouting” to LGBTQ artists in this community! Do you believe this NFT may spark change or motivation within the LGBTQ NFT artists?
I believe there is a lot of power in sharing the story. When I was in the “therapy” I felt so hopeless, so alone feeling like I was the only one who ever went through nightmares like that. But that was not true, queer teenagers all over the world are going through their personal hell in a thousand ways. Running away did not work for me. Looking at the demon in their eye and facing the trauma, turning ugly into beauty was my way through.
I wish my heart and eyes were more open to letting lights in. Now I want to be a light, a twisted but beautiful light. Through my light I want people to see the demon, she is pure evil with a beautiful smile. Through my art, I want people to feel the beauty in trauma with an open heart and let their light thrive from darkness.
Can you tell me a little bit about the development of different personas that you use in your art? Do you feel that the early creation of these characters has allowed you to be freer in your own personality and identity?
Now looking back at my creative journey, The persona in my art has always been the SHE who the old HE was scared and ashamed of. The glamorous “demon” that I have been painting is me myself. My “everyday myself” and “art myself” is becoming more and more inseparable. Through creativity, I have been facing my darkness and looking it in the eye. It took the power away from my trauma and trauma became my source of power.
It has definitely been a gradual development.
Hearing about your trauma and triumph is beautiful. How have advanced technologies such as NFTs and blockchain helped to develop and support your career? Has that inspired your creative process?
Blockchain technology opens up so many new opportunities for artists. It helps artists connect with their audience in a brand new way with way fewer factors in traditional marketing that might compromise the artwork/profit for the artists. It definitely helps me share my creative journey and spread my light to a bigger audience. It also inspired my artistry in the more digital aspects. Blockchain and NFTs are merging the lines between digital and physical art, this is exactly the visual effect I have been going for. Seeing artists bringing different forms of art together in the community encourages me to explore different possibilities.
Lastly, the metaverse is a subject that has reached a much wider audience in the last few months. How do you think we’ll see the creative process behind makeup, as well as makeup development in this area? How do you think people might use it in the metaverse?
Digital fashion has been developing really fast, also digital makeup. Digital makeup will be a necessity with digital fashion and avatars becoming more and more common and accessible.
Also digital makeup is having a strong impact on “real” makeup. From aesthetics to techniques, “real” makeup trends are looking more and more digital, more 3D. Artists can connect with their audience in new ways, maybe like a metaverse masterclass. Brands can create metaverse makeup products for people to create their own looks for themselves or on their avatars. The line between digital makeup and fashion in the metaverse might be more and more blurred since there is little restriction.
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