CLIENT
Terasaki Exhibitions
LOCATION
Japanese American National Museum, 100 N Central Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90012
SERVICE PROVIDED
Events & Festivals
Community Engagement
Events & Festivals
Transcendients Community Celebration
On March 7th, 2020 The Japanese American National Museum, in collaboration with artist Taiji Terasaki, presented the Transcendients Community Celebration: Challenging Borders produced by Community Arts Resources. This free one-day event explored the visible and invisible borders in our world through music, dance, art, speaker series, and interactive activities.
New York Times bestseller and Pulitzer Prize winner Viet Thahn Nguyen delivered the keynote speech on transcending the borders from the perspective of an immigrant, a refuge, and a writer with a bicultural identity. In addition, a selection of the Heroes being honored in Taiji Terasaki's groundbreaking Transcendients: Heroes at Borders exhibition joined in the curated speaker series with facilitated conversations exploring transcending their respective borders.
KCRW Good Food Host Evan Kleiman joined with " Gangsta Gardener" Ron Finley and Executive Director of Inclusive Action for the City, Rudy Espinoza for a conversation on challenging the borders of food in Los Angeles. Aziza Hasan, the Executive Director of NewGround: A Muslim-Jewish Partnership for Change discussed challenging the borders of human rights in Los Angeles. Additionally, John Malpede, performance artist and founder of the Los Angeles Poverty Development discussed art and activism. Interactive workshops focused on joint activities and exercises such as communal weaving, memory crafting, and letter writing to individuals detained at the Mexican/American border to help people in immigration detention centers cope with isolation and stress.
This celebration included free entry to Taiji Terasaki's masterful exhibition, amplifying the themes of his work that honored heroes from Los Angeles and across the nation who are fighting against discrimination, prejudice, and inequality at our physical and social borders.
