Yuan Yao is a Shanghai-based photographer who has always wanted to tell authentic stories of people during important moments in their lives. The Nami project owes this name to the protagonist, known through a mutual friend and wants to tell the story of the tortuous path of motherhood. Melancholy and joy come together: Nami wasn’t pregnant at that moment, but she had always wanted children and she wanted to remember this incredible moment. After the loss of their mutual friend, Nami suddenly became pregnant and the two began to document motherhood by taking photographs.

The project started very naturally, at Nami’s home in Tokyo, after which the two developed a deep empathic connection, which allowed the photographer to tell a story with the images, through different places around Japan. One of the most visited places was Fuji, the birthplace of the future mother, as Yuan tells:

“The whole process was marvelous, sometimes very spiritual. We once got lost and witnessed red Mount Fuji right in front us and a dairy cow giving birth and the calf standing up, it was on Nami’s birthday, oddly enough her Chinese zodiac sign is the ox. It was very uplifting experience and there were many like this.”

The magic that accompanied this project is a mix of fatality and spirituality, someone would call it destiny.