Roger Shimoura: Mistaken Identity

Throughout his extensive career, Shimomura’s work has provided stealth commentary addressing sociopolitical issues of ethnicity. The exhibition includes a range of works on paper from the past 25 years which point to the history and confused ideals of racial exclusion in America. 

In these works, Roger constructs a hypothetical history based on research from his grandmother’s diary, public archives and photographs, as well as his own family photos. Roger reveals the dismal conditions in the camps idealized through a traditional Japanese ‘floating world’ style. This visual separation from the historical event renders the incarcerated through an exoticized lens and leverages foils like barbed wire, windows, and mirrors, to heighten and question the separation between American-ness and Otherness. Using absurd caricatures, poignant humor, and riffing off of preconceptions for ‘what kind of art Japanese artists make,’ Roger catches us in our own judgements and misconceptions – a past, and unfortunately, present-day mistake.

Read more about the work presented and the artist

This exhibition is presented to recognize the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 and is presented in collaboration with, and sponsorship from, the Twin Cities Japanese American Citizens League.

Image credit: Yellow No Same, No. 5, 1992, Ten color lithograph on Somerset, Edition of 45. Image courtesy of Greg Kucera Gallery.