Tamane Takehara
竹原玖音

Hanging Sculptures and Suspended Identity: WWII Japanese Artwork and Contemporary Manifestations

”仕方がない (shikataganai) - it can't be helped. We have to 我慢 (gaman)."
With the incarceration and displacement of Japanese American citizens after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, scrappy internment camps made of abandoned farm houses and shacks in midst of the dusty desert became full of those who were forcefully removed from their homes- doctors, carpenders, housewives, and artists of Japanese decent. They often repeated the phrase above, translating to- "There's nothing we can do. We have to persevere, tolerate it."- continuing to live with the taught tension that lived inside- seen as the enemy, even with the years of assimilation and settling into American society. Even in these times of isolation and the othering of Japanese American citizens- artists such as Ruth Asawa and Isamu Noguchi molded their suspended identities into pieces which represented their dual identities as Japanese Americans during World War II through techniques, materiality, and form. This exhibition will look at the implications of gender, cultural identity, and the experimentation of form and media that is used to reflect internal and political tensions- as well as contemporary examples of Asian American identity and its suspension in the sociopolitical climate today.

`Architecture of Life, Iron Wire. Varied Dimensions. Photo: Laurence Cuneo.`

Always the other- as a white passing half Japanese half white American, Noguchi voluntarily admitted himself into the internment camps. With this added layer of visual difference from both his Japanese and white peers- Noguchi extensively explores otherness and isolation within his visual and material vocabulary. The circular depression in the middle of the black mound, as well as the title suggest that the individual (author of viewer) is trapped in isolation within this depression, with noguchi's sensibility with material and form shown in the tension and anxiety he is able to create with the precariously balanced ball and flag.

`Bell Tower for Hiroshima, Terra-cotta, Wood. 50 ⅝” x 31” x 31”. Photo: The Noguchi Museum.`

Critics argued that, because Asawa's sculpture did not touch the ground, it should not be considered a sculpture; and that because she was a woman, her work was considered craft, rather than fine arts despite her training at Black Mountain college. Her material choice reflects her time at the Japanese internment camps during her development as an adult and artist‒ lined with heavy metal wiring which damaged her hands. The suspended form with shadowy internal layers reflects not only her own concern with her Japanese American identity, as well as the overall experience of otherness and its isolation in geographical, and social space.

`The World is a Foxhole, Bronze, wood, string, and fabric. Photo: The Noguchi Museum.`

Though this piece was rejected from the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum partially due to Noguchi's ancestry- Noguchi's brilliant visual vocabulary explores the concept of desolation and destruction, however on a more universal level. Rather than embracing Western modernism that the Hiroshima Peace Park endorsed- Noguchi utilizes traditional, natural materials such as wood and ancient Japanese funerary ceramic earthenware called Haniwa, in order to convey a sense of loss and destruction of humanity overall, as the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was estimated to kill at least a quarter million people.

`Can’t Help Myself, Kuka industrial robot, stainless steel and rubber, cellulose ether in colored water, lighting grid with Cognex visual-recognition sensors, and polycarbonate wall with aluminum frame. Dimensions variable overall. Photo: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.`

A lone robot contained inside a glass display- this robot is programmed to claw the red substance towards itself when it reaches a certain length away from the center. As an extra element of humanity, the machine is also programmed with four "bodily" expressions such as "butt shake". Despite the cold stillness of this robotic structure- it reflects not only a universal experience of mental health, but also an Asian American experience, especially with prejudices such as model minority and a collectivist culture which prioritizes the needs of the many first and foremost.

`Your Best American Girl, Video medium. Image: Mitski.`

Forever the foreigner, the issues of social assimilation into mainstream white society results in an internalization of isolation and otherness- manifesting in the hinging of one's self worth and image onto the white man, as seen in the beginning of the video. Though women of color often attempt to mold themselves into this perfect image of the "American girl", they will forever be seen as the other, the foreigner, "them", not "us". One must pave their own "American Girl", rather than let it shape them.