|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
 |
Japanese American Internment Project Opening EventJanuary 19, 2007 SAN FRANCISCO—(U.S. ASIAN WIRE)—The opening reception for the large-scale Japanese-American Internment Project traveling exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library is planned for January 20 at 2 p.m. in the Koret Auditorium. The exhibition will run through March 18, 2007, in the 6th floor Skylight Gallery. The opening event features honorees and youth participants, with remarks and readings by Public Defender Jeff Adachi, playwright Philip Gotanda, poet Janice Mirikitani, and student Sana Benharchache. Musicians George Yamasaki, Stuart Yasaki and friends will perform swing music of the camp era. A sushi reception will follow. The exhibition honors fifteen survivors of the Japanese-American internment camps during WWII and Japanese-American artists whose work has been influenced by the internment experience. The initial project was based on a series of interviews and creative writing workshops with 11th graders at George Washington High School in San Francisco and has been expanded to include the creative talent of students from CW/W’s ROOTS program at Balboa High School and Horace Mann Middle School in San Francisco. These students created Weaving Words, a 40-foot fence that intertwines personal legacies with a collective historical legacy. The fence, along with photographs, suitcases of artifacts from detainees, and biographies of the honorees, will be on display at the Skylight Gallery until March. Honorees include Diane Fukami, Philip Kan Gotanda, Sato Hashizume, Ruth Okimoto, Chizu Iiyama, Ernie Iiyama, Ginger Masuoka, Janice Mirikitani, Esther Oda, Emiko Omori, Toru Saito, Morgan Yamanaka, and George Yoshida. Co-sponsored by: San Francisco Public Library, Community Educational Services, Teachers for Social Justice, Arab Cultural and Community Center, and Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. Funded by: California Arts Council, San Francisco Department of Children, Youth and Families, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and Friends of the San Francisco Public Library. Community Works West seeks to provide disenfranchised populations in the San Francisco Bay Area with opportunities to build community and give voice to their experiences. CW/W believes that the arts and education can serve as valuable platforms for achieving this goal, incorporating personal expression, alliance-building, and public engagement. For more information, please call 510-486-2340.
CONTACT:
|
|
||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
