Patrick Nagatani

The Race - A Novel (2013-2017) ASG 2015

The Race: Tales in Flight, SF/Design, Fresco Books, University of New Mexico Press

The Race - Blue-9 [Ting Xu Chan], 2013

The Race (2013-2017), Patrick Nagatani's final project, in which he acted as author, creator, collaborator and director working with another photographer and twelve writers to create short stories about 15 women pilots becoming empowered through flying on a utopian journey from Tokyo Bay to San Francisco.

The Race - Yellow-13 [Nanibah Jackson], 2013




The Race - Red-11 [Ludmilla Litvyck], 2013

A Photo-Novel directed, produced and photographed by Patrick Nagatani with;
Scott Rankin - cloud images - pilot/video artist - professor at Illinois State Normal
Randi Ganulin - tech assistance - artist/designer working in Seattle

Patrick Nagatani is at first a long-time visual artist and most recently has challenged himself with creative writing. Much of his past work has evolved around storytelling and narrative fiction as photographic “fact”. He has dwelled in the land of fiction and magic with his images and now in this novel. He is choreographing the creative writing of 9 other writers who are contributing to the novel. The images here will be at the beginning of each chapter of the pilot’s stories. They are meant to illustrate the novel with a feeling of flying spirit and magical space.

The Race- Orange-3 [Hamidah Gyamtso], 2013

The Race- Chartreuse-14 [Piccola Uccello], 2013

UNM Press description:
The Race is a novel about the discovery of fifteen Supermarine Spitfire airplanes buried in Burma at the end of World War II and their subsequent excavation, acquisition, and transformation into state-of-the-art floatplanes, capable of traveling long distances and landing at sea. Fifteen women of different backgrounds are ultimately chosen to pilot the planes in a trans-Pacific race from Tokyo to San Francisco. Beyond their private narratives, each woman experiences a larger dialogue about culture and gender issues, the moral and ecological state of our planet, the human condition, and the universal need for compassion.

Evolving around stories and narrative fictions seen as photographic fact, The Race is a logical extension of Nagatani’s visual campaigns. His lifelong interests in Buddhism, fiction and poetry, alternative medicine, indigenous cultures, identity, and self-examination all play a prominent part in this epic tale of adventure.