University Art Gallery San Diego State University Organized by Tina Yapelli University Art Gallery San Diego State University Edited by Tina Yapelli with Krystal R
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University Art Gallery San Diego State University Organized by Tina Yapelli University Art Gallery San Diego State University Edited by Tina Yapelli with Krystal R. Hauseur Designed by Monika Lemp, Instructional Technology Services, SDSU Printed on recycled paper by The Gates Group, San Diego Edition of 1,500 Copyright © 2012 University Art Gallery; School of Art, Design and Art History San Diego State University San Diego, California 92182–4805 619.594.5171 / artgallery.sdsu.edu 6 February through 3 May 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced University Art Gallery, San Diego State University in any form without permission from the publisher. ISBN 0-937097-08-X Photography Credits This catalogue was published on the occasion of the inaugural presentation of the exhibition Wendy Maruyama: The Tag Project / Executive Order 9066, The image on page 10 appears courtesy of the National Archives and Records organized by Tina Yapelli, director of the University Art Gallery at San Diego Administration, the image on page 11 appears courtesy of the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego, and the image on the back cover appears courtesy State University. The catalogue was made possible by the California Civil of the National Park Service. All other images appear courtesy of the artist. Dedication Liberties Public Education Program, administered by the California State Library, and the San Diego State University Art Council. The exhibition and Images The Tag Project / Executive Order 9066 is dedicated to the hundreds of volunteers who participated in the recreation opening celebration were sponsored by the San Diego State University David Harrison: cover, pages 16–19, 28–30, 34 Art Council; additional support was provided by the School of Art, Design Cover: Hinamatsuri (Girl’s Day) (detail) of nearly 120,000 Japanese American internee identification tags. The following organizations were instrumental in facilitating and Art History and the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts. Mira Gabby Kubo Dannemiller: Inside front cover: The Tag Project (detail) page 3 (center) tag-making events: Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego; Buddhist Temple of San Diego; Pioneer Ocean View Nakashima’s lecture was sponsored by the SDSU Art Council with assistance Page 3: Tag-making events Adam Manley: page 15 United Church of Christ, San Diego; San Diego Japanese Christian Church; Kiku Gardens Retirement Community, Chula Vista; from Miyo and Mitch Reff and the Mingei International Museum. The inaugural Page 4: The Tag Project (detail) celebration was organized and sponsored by the Japanese American Wendy Maruyama: page 3 Page 5: A Question of Loyalty (two views) Art Produce Gallery, San Diego; Advancement Via Individual Determination Program, Poway High School; School of International Historical Society of San Diego. Funding for When Dreams Are Interrupted— (left, right) Back cover: Map of sites in the western San Diego was provided by the California Council for the Humanities Kevin J. Miyazaki: inside Studies, San Diego High School; Nikkei Student Union, San Diego State University; Furniture Design and Woodworking Graduate United States associated with the California Stories Fund and the California Arts Council. front cover, pages 4, 6, 8–9, relocation of Japanese American Program, San Diego State University; Nikkei Student Union, University of California, Los Angeles; internment camp pilgrimage 13, 20, 25, 31, 35–36, internment camps during World War II; The Tag Project series was funded in part by a grant from the California Civil inside back cover organizers Manzanar Committee, Minidoka Pilgrimage and Tule Lake Committee; James Renwick Alliance; and Tennessee Liberties Public Education Program, administered by the California State Library. sites indicated as “WRA [War Relocation Cary Okazaki: pages 22–23 Additional funding and project administration support was provided by the Authority] Relocation Centers” are Technological University, Cookeville. the ten internment camps referenced Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. Additional funding also Dean Powell: pages 5, 12 in The Tag Project. Most importantly, The Tag Project / Executive Order 9066 honors my grandparents and their fellow Japanese Americans was provided by the San Diego Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens Larry Stanley: pages 32–33 League and the San Diego State University Art Council. Nick Wu: pages 24, 26–27 whose families were forced from their homes in 1942. This project is dedicated to them and to their legacy of resilience and hope. Wendy Maruyama JapaneseJapanese AmericanAmerican HistoricalHistorical Society Society of San Diego of San Diego Contents Introduction by Tina Yapelli 6 Acknowledgments 7 Essay by Susan Hasegawa 11 Essay by Barbara McBane 21 Checklist of the Exhibition 31 Biography of the Artist 35 Introduction the U. S. loyalty questionnaire, photographic imagery of Wendy Maruyama’s artworks, by courageously by Tina Yapelli the interment camps and other allusive items, conjure the addressing the Japanese American internment during World cruel settings of the Japanese American confinement. War II, succeed in bringing attention to this far-reaching Suitcases, footlockers and steamer trunks—artifacts from Primarily horizontal in form, the cabinets in particular evoke tragedy. And in doing so, they create an opportunity for the forced journey of Japanese Americans in 1942—set the the desolate landscape and barren environment of the education and awareness, which in turn have the potential stage for Wendy Maruyama’s exhibition at the University camps, while making indirect reference to the people who to engender greater empathy toward and acceptance of Art Gallery. Assembled at the exhibition’s entrance, these inhabited them. In addition, bamboo fishing poles, left all peoples. Maruyama brings the viewer back to the present history-rich containers have been transformed by the artist behind when West Coast fishermen were evacuated inland with a future aim: to ensure that this type of injustice never into a site-specific installation that initiates a different type and required to pursue livelihoods separate from the sea, again occurs. Her goal requires a collective willingness to of journey: a viewer’s journey back in time. Maruyama’s have been configured by Maruyama as a found-object heed the hard-learned lessons of history that Executive Order two recent bodies of work subsequently guide the viewer artwork with a broad expanse that echoes her predominant 9066 and The Tag Project convey. to consider the forced evacuation of Japanese Americans cabinet format. from their homes, jobs and schools to the inhumane Further along the metaphoric journey of Maruyama’s conditions of ten internment camps erected by the United Acknowledgments States government—their government—at the height of exhibition, the viewer enters her large-scale sculptural The Tag Project / Executive Order 9066 project was realized World War II. Maruyama leads us to imagine, to installation, The Tag Project. Here, the nearly 120,000 through the collaborative support of several generous symbolically witness, the places and events of individuals who were imprisoned in the camps are expressly sponsors. This catalogue was made possible by the California the mass incarceration of an entire segment and explicitly memorialized. In counterpoint to the wide, Civil Liberties Public Education Program, administered by the of the American population during one of the landscape-referential works of Executive Order 9066, The California Sate Library, and the San Diego State University most shameful moments of the country’s past. Tag Project comprises ten tall, figurative arrangements of Art Council. The exhibition and opening celebration were Once inside the Gallery proper, the strung paper tags suspended ceiling-to-floor. These hanging sponsored by the San Diego State University Art Council; viewer encounters Maruyama’s impeccably specters populate the Gallery with the spirit of the people additional support was provided by the School of Art, Design handcrafted wooden wall cabinets and who are commemorated by name, number and camp and Art History and the College of Professional Studies and assemblages from her series Executive Order location on Maruyama’s convincing replicas of internee Fine Arts. Mira Nakashima’s lecture was sponsored by the 9066. These spare works, incorporating identification labels—one for each child, woman and man SDSU Art Council with assistance from Miyo and Mitch Reff tarpaper, porcelain shards, an excerpt from who suffered the indignities of internment. and the Mingei International Museum. The inaugural Untitled / 7 / celebration was organized and sponsored by the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. Funding for When Dreams Are Interrupted—San Diego was provided by the California Council for the Humanities California Stories Fund and the California Arts Council. The Tag Project series was funded in part by a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, administered by the California State Library. Additional funding and project administration support was provided by the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. Additional funding also was provided by the San Diego Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League and the San Diego State University Art Council. The artist and gallery director would like to extend special thanks to the following individuals who contributed their