The Nail That Sticks Up the Farthest...
The Nail That Sticks Up the Farthest...
Installation at the Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, Illinois
February 4 - June 18, 2017
Part of a group exhibition, If You Remember, I'll Remember, curated by Janet Dees
Deru Kugi Wa Utareru is a Japanese proverb which can be translated as "The nail that sticks up the farthest takes the most pounding." When I came across this saying, it helped to explain how 120,313 people of Japanese ancestry, 2/3 of whom were American citizens, could submit to being incarcerated during WWII, in most cases, without protest. Copies of hand-written letters from my maternal grandfather describing life before and after the camps are collaged with copies of documents from the National Archives of testimony by former internees given before congress. Stippled into the walls is a grid of 120.313 holes, one for each person interned. Rusted nails are pounded into the grid, forming a large American flag. Visitors are encouraged to add nails to the wall in memory or honor of those who were incarcerated. Thousands of nails were added by visitors, sometimes spelling out words such as "persist, empathy, resist" linking the past with the present.
Media coverage:
Block exhibit remembers what government seems to forget
The Lisa D Show with Kristine Aono
Block Museum exhibit explores art and memory
Block Museum exhibition connects past to present, emphasizes necessity of remembrance
