American Muse

Label

In this print, a barbeque grill, a symbol of Americana, and a rice cooker, a staple appliance in many Japanese homes, are positioned next to each other. This juxtaposition points to the ways hybridity, or cultural intermixing, can be expressed through our food. Many of Shimomura’s works deal with the Japanese American concentration camp experience, exploring questions of identity and belonging by combining Japanese cultural references and American pop-art imagery. Roger Shimomura was three years old in 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which led to his and his family’s forced relocation from Seattle, Washington, to the Japanese concentration camp at Minidoka, Idaho. In the foreground of the print, a Japanese woman smiles proudly. Shimomura often draws on th diaries his grandmother Toku Shimomura kept during their time at Minidoka—she is, perhaps, the “American Muse” referenced in the title of this work.

Course History

ASCL 7.03,Asian-American Art and Architecture, Sujin Eom, Winter 2023

Asian Society, Culture, & Language 7.03, Asian-American Art and Architecture, Sujin Eom, Winter 2023

Sociology 61.01, Quantitative Social Science 30.17, Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies 33.05, Gender (In)equality, Kristin Smith, Spring 2023

Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 70.24, Asian American Art and Architecture, Sujin Eom, Spring 2024

Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Charis Boke, Summer 2024

Exhibition History

From the Field: Tracing Foodways Through Art, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 8-November 3, 2024.

Provenance

Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington; sold to present collection, 2022.

This record is part of an active database that includes information from historic documentation that may not have been recently reviewed. Information may be inaccurate or incomplete. We also acknowledge some language and imagery may be offensive, violent, or discriminatory. These records reflect the institution’s history or the views of artists or scholars, past and present. Our collections research is ongoing.

We welcome questions, feedback, and suggestions for improvement. Please contact us at: Hood.Collections@dartmouth.edu

Subjects