January Studio Hours - Tanforan Incarceration 1942: Behind Barbed Wire Exhibition Tour with Artist & Curator NaOmi Judy Shintani
AAWAA Members attended a special curator and artist led tour of the Tanforan BART Station’s exhibition, Tanforan Incarceration 1942: Resilience Behind Barbed Wire, unfolding the lesser known history of the site for its role as a racetrack turned detention center for the incarceration of Bay Area Japanese Americans during World War II and the broader impacts of Executive Order 9066. The exhibition was curated by AAWAA Artist Member Na Omi Judy Shintani and features the artwork of AAWAA Artist Members Ellen Bepp, Shari Arai DeBoer, Lucien Kubo, and Kay Sekimachi. BART Art Program Manager, Jennifer Easton, will also be present to speak more about the program and upcoming projects.
Following the tour, attendees visited the Tanforan Memorial with Doug Yamamoto (Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee) just outside the station featuring a sculpture based on a photo of the Mochida sisters taken by photographer Dorothea Lange along with the 8,000+ names of those who were sent to long-term concentration camps through the site. The afternoon concluded with networking and happy hour at BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery in the Shops at Tanforan mall.
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Women's Workshop: Create Your Own Paradise with Artist Angela Han
Imagine a space where you are safe, respected, and celebrated. How are your needs being met? In what ways are your hopes being fulfilled? Bring to life this “paradise” that treasures every part of who you are through art & storytelling with artist Angela Han. During this workshop, participants reflected on a series of thought-provoking questions, engaged in a hands-on world-building activity, and story-told their final creations.
This workshop was presented by Asian American Women Artists Association (AAWAA) Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center (APICC) and Angela Han Art LLC in conjunction with the exhibition, Angela Han: West of Paradise exhibition.
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Angela Han: West of Paradise
Angela Han: West of Paradise highlights work from Han’s notable series including Serpents of Khaos (2020 – present), 50 Mythical Worlds Inspired by 50 Women Composers (2020), The Nine Guardians of Water (2021), Shan Shui (2021-2022), and Realms of Courage: Celebrating Asian Women Composers (2022 – present). Developed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, each series explores the concept of “paradise” within the context of hybrid identities, mirror communities, and yearnings for a “true” home. As a first-generation Chinese-American woman, Han tenderly carries the hyphen that shuttles between *Chinese* and *American* and strives to encapsulate speculative loci amoenus (spaces of safety and comfort) for Asian-American women through the vividness, intricacy, and layered complexities of her paintings.
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