Tomoko was born in 1961 in the suburbs of the port city of Fukuoka, 1100 kilometres south-west of Tokyo, Japan, to middle-class Buddhist parents.
Her father, a war veteran, worked in the recovering local shipbuilding industry, while her mother stayed at home to look after the children. Tomoko, unwilling to accept what tradition still expected of young Japanese people, left her family when she came of age without the intention of returning.
In 1979, at a time when the military recruited women, she was one of 55 girls who joined the air force; she hoped perhaps to escape in a manner more exciting even than the one the sea had made her dream of, and to break from convention once and for all and to be the master of her own destiny.
Her ambition was to become a fighter pilot, but the rigid rules of the Japanese military did not permit it; she had to accept a lesser role, but her contact with this exciting new world was to leave a lasting impression: she wanted no more of the feeling of anger and resentment she felt at home and, from then on, every compromise she had to make merely represented an obstacle in her path towards independence and freedom.
Marriage and ten years of family duties did nothing to repress her desire to reach out to another world – not towards the ethereal one of tradition but the real one made up of different people, countries and cultures, a universe in constant movement which she yearned to attain. And so it was that, for a second time, she left her home and, with it, Japan: she boarded a long-haul flight and was never to come back.
Was it perhaps the allure of a people that have wandered the world for centuries that, in 1997, attracted her to Israel? We do not know, and she cannot explain it; but it was there, during the two years studying art at Tel Hai College, where she discovered an innate ability to paint and to express herself through signs and colours. She has since given full rein to her creativity, immersing herself in her work to such an extent that sometimes she loses all track of time and does not stop until her hand tires and her head droops forward.
In 2002, Tomoko moved to Italy and she has no intention of leaving.
DATES:
Tomoko was born in Fukuoka on the island of Kiusciu, Japan, on 20 June 1961.
-1979 Tomoko completed her studies and joined the Air Force.
-1979/1981 she attended the military school at the base in Iruma (Tokyo).
-1994 she studied psychology at a specialist institute in Fukuma.
-1997 she moved to Israel.
-1997/1999 she studied art at Tel Hai College, near the border with Lebanon.
-1999 she moved from Tel Hai to Tel Aviv.
-2002 she met Roberto Fait in Tel Aviv and returned with him to Milan where they married.
-2005/2006 she had two personal exhibitions in Rome.
-2009 her works featured in an exhibition in Milan.
– In 2009, Tomoko was mentioned as one of the 100 main female artists in the modern history of Milan, in the 2nd volume of the publication “Le Protagoniste – le donne che fanno l’Italia” (The Players – the women who have made Italy) edited by Comedit with the support of the Senate of the Republic, the Chamber of Deputies, the Equal Rights Minister and the City of Milan.
-2012 her works were displayed in a personal and a collective exhibition in Latina.
-2013 her works were displayed in a collective exhibition in Latina.
-2014 her works were displayed in a personal exhibition in Rome with the patronage of the ”INSTITUTE FOR JAPANESE CULTURE”.
-2014 exhibition in Venice at “Spoleto Arte incontra Venezia” (Spoleto Art meets Venice), curated by Vittorio Sgarbi
-2014 exhibition at “Carrousel du Musèe du Louvre, Paris”
-2014 exhibition at the “Triennale di Arti Visive in Rome” (Triennal of Visual Arts in Rome)
Galleria Chiostro del Bramante
-2015 exhibition at Castello di Lispida-Monselice
-2015 exhibits in Rome in a personal show under the patronage of the Italian Association of Architecture and Criticism and with the presentation of the “Tomoko Art Collection”.
-2016 Tomoko Fait has been selected to exhibit her painting “Amazzonia” at the Salon d’Automne in 2016.
-2018 exhibits her painting “Les Abimes” at the 228th edition of the “Salon des Artistes Francais” at the Grand Palais in Paris.
-2019 exhibits her painting “La Genese” at the 229th edition of the “Salon des Artistes Francais” at the Grand Palais in Paris.
-2019 Tomoko is invited to exhibit her painting “Rêve dans l’Entropie” at the “Salon d’Automne” in Paris.
-2020 Tomoko is invited to exhibit her painting “Rêve dans l’Entropie” at the 230th edition of the “Salon des Artistes Français “at the Grand Palais in Paris.
-2020 is selected to exhibit her work “La sirène et sa solitude” at the “Salon d’Automne 2020”.
-2021 is invited to exhibit the work “Menace a la vie” at the “Salon d’Automne 2021”.
-2022 is invited to exhibit the work “Spira les dans bleu” at the “Salon d’Automne 2022”.
-2023- Following the illness and death of her husband, Roberto Fait in 2022, she resumed painting after a break.
-2024 Dual exhibition with Ruggiero Lenci. Japan and Italy, painting and sculpture.
At the Vennino Crocetti Museum, Rome.
Curated by Umberto Vattani, President of the Italian-Japanese Foundation and Rector of the International University of Venice.
ed. Reproductions of Tomoko’s works are filed with a notary and covered by Copyright.