Artist Talk (sold out) 12/15/2024 for the Opening of "Resilience: a Sansei Sense of Legacy" at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, December 15 thru June 1, 2025. www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/events/on-sit…
Photo: Daruma of Resilience II, 2024

Kristine Aono

My process begins with in-depth research, whether it be pilgrimages to all of the former locations of Japanese Americans' WWII incarceration, pouring through documents and photographs at the National Archives, or recording oral histories from camp survivors. Fabrication of my artwork can use a variety of materials; earth, rusted nails, photographs, documents, artifacts, fabric, wood, etc. in both stand-alone sculpture and installation art. Increasingly, collaboration with communities has become an integral component of my process. This is achieved either during installation, through audience interaction with the work, or my workshops with community groups. I see this as a natural progression of my work and its focus on connectedness and giving voice to unheard stories.