Staging Shimomura
Exhibition Overview
Staging Shimomura explores the dynamic role of performance in the artistic practice of Roger Shimomura. From his early experimental films produced as a graduate student in the late 1960s to full theatrical productions staged in the early 2000s, Shimomura created multifaceted performances that centered on the Asian American experience for more than three decades. Born in Seattle, Washington, on June 26, 1939, Shimomura’s earliest memories are from the Minidoka internment camp in Southern Idaho where he and his family, as American citizens of Japanese ancestry, were forcefully and unconstitutionally incarcerated shortly after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.
Although Shimomura describes himself as a painter, performance art allowed him to expand and activate central themes in his work through live action. His performances interrogate racist issues common to Asian Americans, as well as experiences specific to Japanese Americans living in internment camps, the latter largely based on the translated diary entries of his grandmother, Toku Machida Shimomura (1888–1968). By interweaving digitally remastered performance excerpts with theatrical props, prints, and paintings, this exhibition fosters new understandings of Shimomura’s rich universe of personal experiences and pop culture
references that examine the dark underbelly of stereotypes and racism that continue to resonate with issues in America today.
Works of art
