braid

Her kitchen space, complete with brightly colored dishware and ceramic food replicas, was swiftly transformed into a makeshift vanity space where she sat to get a full face of makeup and her hair braided.

She said the university introduced the new braided careers programme after noticing that it was struggling to recruit to the course, and that the access to the subject in schools was declining.

There is excitement in her eyes, her blonde braids swing back and forth as she recollects villa drama, late-night group chats and fierce online skirmishes, like a war veteran sharing combat stories.

She sent him photos of a smiling woman in her 20s with braided hair in a blue nurse's uniform, and images showing a desk with files on it, seemingly snapped during her working day.

Yamaguchi is now focusing on making paintings that already feel familiar to her, using forms she’s repeatedly traced and painted over her career: braids, cones, columns, mounds, loopy waves.