Do you often incorporate family stories in your work?

I have occasionally. When I do, I like to combine actual stories with permutations of those stories, as well as entirely fictional narratives to create works with conceptual foundations that are in between reality and fiction. I am interested in the perception of reality and the ideal of virtual reality.

How did the idea for your piece for Finding Family Stories begin?

It began at last year's Family Expo. I walked into a used book booth and picked up a campaign pamphlet for ex-Senator James D. Phelan which outlined his plans at "Keep(ing) California White," specifically his credentials in keeping Japanese out of America. After going back to my studio, I realized that this was the same Phelan whose estate funds an art grant which I was encouraged to apply for not too long ago. I thought it ironic that I, a Japanese American, was applying for money from the very man who would have had me incarcerated less than sixty years ago. I then integrated this idea into a story which has been on my mind for some time.

My grandfather was a great high school football player in East L.A. who had his athletic career cut short because of the concentration camps. I thought it ridiculous and disgusting that sixty years ago my grandfather, a great athlete, figuratively "ran from" ex-Senator James D. Phelan, a leader of the anti-Japanese movement which culminated in the incarceration. Now I was being encouraged to "run to" Phelan by applying for a monetary award for artists distributed in his name. Art and art support is used as a way of buying a legacy that ignores Phelan's truly racist ideology.

Glenn Kaino's work incorporates different strategies towards the inclusion and infusion of people of color into popular culture. He mixes computer, video, print and other communications technology to create site-specific installations which investigate oppositional forms of existence, resistance, and literacy. Kaino has studied at UC Irvine and UC San Diego and has created work for or in association with the Japanese American National Museum, El Centro Cultural de la Raza, Highways Gallery and the Downey Museum of Art. He has received grants from the Fellows of Contemporary Art and UC San Diego.