Past Exhibitions
Finding Family Stories
March 14 - July 6, 2003
This is the third year of Finding Family Stories, an Arts Partnership Project initiated by the Japanese American National Museum in 1995 to create a dialogue among the diverse communities that shape the state of California.
Crafting History: Arts and Crafts from America's Concentration Camps
November 16, 2002 - May 4, 2003
Craft objects made by Japanese Americans comprise one of the most significant categories of artifacts from the World War II concentration camps. This exhibition examines arts and crafts as an important outlet for Japanese Americans during World War II, and explores what these items mean today as we reflect on the legacy of the incarceration.
Boyle Heights: The Power of Place
September 8, 2002 - February 23, 2003
A neighborhood is made up of people and places. It is defined through the experiences of those who consider it home. Through the stories of past and present neighborhood residents, this exhibition explores how the experiences and memories of many generations of Angelenos intersect in this powerful place.
Passports to Friendship: Celebrating 75 Years of U.S.-Japan Friendship Doll Exchange
July 27 - October 13, 2002
In 1927, millions of American and Japanese children participated in an exchange program aimed at promoting peace, goodwill and understanding between their two nations. American children sent 12,739 dolls to coincide with the traditional Japanese Girl's Day festival known as Hina Matsuri. Later that year, Japanese children reciprocated by sending 58 dolls to the U.S. in time for Christmas celebrations.
Each doll carried with it a passport and the good wishes of the children. This exhibition traced the historical and political context of the 1927 doll exchange, relates what happened to the dolls in the intervening years and revives the original mission to educate children how to respect and value diverse cultures and experiences.
Living in Color: The Art of Hideo Date
October 27, 2001 - April 7, 2002
This exhibition of paintings is the first retrospective survey of the art of Issei painter Hideo Date (b.1907).
Flo Oy Wong: Angel Island, Immigration, and Family Stories
September 27, 2001 - March 31, 2002
Artist Flo Oy Wong is known for her provocative explorations of family and community history through her work. The exhibition includes Wong's most recent installation, made in usa: Angel Island Shhh, that exposes the conditions and experiences of Chinese immigrants incarcerated at Angel Island Immigration Station between 1910 and 1940.
Beliz Brother, Mei-ling Hom, and Kim Yasuda: Celebrating U.S. - Japan Creative Artists Exchange Fellowship Program
May 11 - September 2, 2001
This exhibition features new work by three recent recipients of the prestigious artists exchange fellowship program jointly administered by the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
Henry Sugimoto: Painting an American Experience
March 24 - October 7, 2001
At the age of 19, Henry Sugimoto left Japan to make his life in America. Determined to become an artist, he studied in the San Francisco Bay Area and exhibited nationally and internationally.When he was unjustly incarcerated at 42 in the Jerome and Rohwer concentration camps in Arkansas, the experience irreversibly affected how he viewed himself, his art, and the Japanese American experience. The only thing that remained constant was his desire to paint.
For a Greener Tomorrow: Japanese American Gardeners in Southern California
October 28, 2000 - May 1, 2001
Barred from leasing farmland in the early 1900s, many Japanese immigrants traveled from California's countryside to the cities and turned to another kind of farming - gardening.
