Dona Nabata

Dona Nabata is a contemporary art practice by a Japanese-Canadian artist based in Vancouver, BC. Her work is strongly informed by the internment of Japanese Canadians and its effect on her family, who immigrated to the West Coast of Canada before WWII, situating her practice at the intersection of cultural heritage, identity, and representation.

Nabata is an honours graduate in Ceramics from Emily Carr University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies (Japanese Language and Literature) from UBC, with additional pottery training at the Shimpo Togei Centre in Kyoto and Primitive Art studies at Kyoritsu in Tokyo. She began her career working primarily in clay, a medium that continues to inform her interdisciplinary practice today.

Her paintings and visual art are organized into several themed collections, including Tale of Genji, Staged Presence, Architectural Murmurings, Situate Women, and WORK/WERK.

In 2024–2025 she received an Arts Grant from the Japanese Canadian Legacies Fund, and her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions across British Columbia, including commissions by the City of Vancouver and the Creative Cultural Collaborations Society. In 2024, she was a featured artist in the documentary film "Tsunagu: Intergenerational Conversations.”

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