On Oct. 17th, a new exhibit opened at Sheehan Gallery and it runs through the Dec. 12th. It features the artwork of two Japanese-American artists, Makoto Fujimura and Teresa Tamura. While Fujimura’s exhibit consists of paintings, Tamura’s consists of photographs.
The photographs on display are published in a book titled Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp. She chose to take pictures of different people affected by this internment camp and Minidoka itself to convey the impact the place has had on the history of the United States. When former President Clinton designated the Minidoka as a national monument in 2001, Tamura lived only an hour away. Although she lived close she had never visited Minidoka. “I wanted to understand this part of our country’s history,” explains Tamura. Tamura has an emotional connection with her project because she is ethnically Japanese. Fortunately, her family was spared from the internment camp, since they lived outside the relocation zone. “[This] process was very psychological [for Tamura] … She recently relocated to Chicago where she is pursuing another advanced degree, in art therapy,” states Professor Forbes, director of Sheehan Gallery. Still, people are unaware of the impact of these internment camps on American lives. “Many people are not aware of this history and disregard of civil rights. Two-thirds of the 120,000 people forced to relocate were American citizens,” says Tamura Whitman College has even been affected by this relocation. “One of those citizens was a 1940 graduate from Whitman College, Robert Hosokawa,” adds Tamura. Fujimura’s art on display are process drawings. He creates process drawings by laying handmade Japanese paper on a painting that has not yet cured.
“They’re kind of like hauntings from a more embodied painting,” explains Forbes. Born in the United States, Fujimura travelled to Japan and studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Here, he became the first non-Japanese citizen to be accepted into the Doctoral Level Program in Nihonga, Japanese painting. “[He] is known for the gestural quality of the marks he makes,” states Forbes. His artwork is often spiritual. It takes on metaphysical subjects linked with art and his reactions to events in his life. “[Fujimura is] more of an abstract expressionist painter … I talk about his artwork as being often ekphrastic, he is often reacting to music or poetry,” adds Forbes. 9/11 was very influential in his life and impacted a great deal of his artwork. Some of this is seen in Sheehan Gallery. “The black columns especially, made after 9/11, [were a] response to a devastating historical event,” says Forbes. In this way, the two exhibits contain a similarity. They both contain emotional responses to a devastating historical event. When Fujimura came to campus, he even remarked on the similarity between the two displays. “When Makoto Fujimura came to campus … he ended up being very pleased with the fact that these two shows were going on together and aligned a lot of his work with elements of Teresa’s photographs … he felt that there was some connection, sort of spiritually or in his own internal processes.” While Fujimura has already visited Whitman, Tamura will be visiting on Nov. 15th. She will be offering a workshop to some community members and will be giving an artist talk at 3:30 in Olin, followed by a book signing in Sheehan Gallery.
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