Rea Tajiri
Encyclopedia
Rea Tajiri is a Japanese American
video artist and filmmaker.
She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Tajiri attended California Institute of the Arts
and worked as a producer on various film and video projects in Los Angeles
and New York
.
Tajiri's video art has been included in the 1989, 1991, and 1993 Whitney Biennial
s. She has also been exhibited at The New Museum for Contemporary Art, The Museum of Modern Art
, The Guggenheim Museum
, The Walker Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archives.
History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige (1991) was Tajiri's personal essay documentary about the Japanese American internment
. It premiered at the 1991 Whitney Biennial
and won the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association
. It also was awarded a Special Jury Prize: "New Visions Category" at the San Francisco International Film Festival
in 1992, and won "Best Experimental Video," Atlanta Film and Video Festival, 1992. In 1993 she made Yuri Kochiyama
: Passion for Justice, a documentary about the Nisei Japanese American
human rights activist. Tajiri co-produced the documentary with Pat Saunders.
She partnered with Japanese Canadian author Kerri Sakamoto
to write a coming-of-age story about a Japanese American
girl in Chicago
in the 1970s, resulting in Strawberry Fields, shot in 1994 with funding from CPB
, NEA
, and ITVS. The film stars Suzy Nakamura
, James Sie, Chris Tashima
and Takayo Fischer
, and was completed in 1997, screening at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
and the Los Angeles Film Festival
. It also was selected to the Venice International Film Festival and won the Grand Prix at the Fukuoka Asian Film Festival.
Tajiri's father, Vincent Tajiri was the Photo Editor for Playboy Magazine during the 50's and 60's, her uncle, Shinkichi Tajiri
, was a prominent sculptor who resided in the Netherlands.
Tajiri continues to live and work in New York. She is currently an Associate Professor at Temple University
, and has taught at Ithaca College, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, and SUNY Purchase.
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
video artist and filmmaker.
She was born in Chicago, Illinois. Tajiri attended California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
and worked as a producer on various film and video projects in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Tajiri's video art has been included in the 1989, 1991, and 1993 Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
s. She has also been exhibited at The New Museum for Contemporary Art, The Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
, The Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, The Walker Art Museum and the Pacific Film Archives.
History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige (1991) was Tajiri's personal essay documentary about the Japanese American internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
. It premiered at the 1991 Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
and won the Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association , founded in 1982, is a non-profit organization promoting documentary film, video and new media, to support the efforts of documentary filmmaking and video production makers around the world and to increase public appreciation and demand for the art of the...
. It also was awarded a Special Jury Prize: "New Visions Category" at the San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
in 1992, and won "Best Experimental Video," Atlanta Film and Video Festival, 1992. In 1993 she made Yuri Kochiyama
Yuri Kochiyama
Yuri Kochiyama is a Japanese American human rights activist.Kochiyama was born Mary Yuriko Nakahara in San Pedro, California. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Kochiyama's father was imprisoned the same day...
: Passion for Justice, a documentary about the Nisei Japanese American
Nisei
During the early years of World War II, Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated from their homes in the Pacific coast states because military leaders and public opinion combined to fan unproven fears of sabotage...
human rights activist. Tajiri co-produced the documentary with Pat Saunders.
She partnered with Japanese Canadian author Kerri Sakamoto
Kerri Sakamoto
Kerri Sakamoto is a Canadian novelist. Her novels commonly deal with the experience of Japanese Canadians.Sakamoto's debut novel, The Electrical Field , won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Book. It also won the Canada-Japan Literary Award and was a finalist for a Governor General’s...
to write a coming-of-age story about a Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
girl in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in the 1970s, resulting in Strawberry Fields, shot in 1994 with funding from CPB
Corporation for Public Broadcasting
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
, NEA
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, and ITVS. The film stars Suzy Nakamura
Suzy Nakamura
Susan Aiko "Suzy" Nakamura is an American actress. She starred opposite Ted Danson in the ABC sitcom Help Me Help You. Nakamura has also had many guest appearances on American sitcoms such as According to Jim, Half and Half, 8 Simple Rules, Curb Your Enthusiasm and How I Met Your Mother and had a...
, James Sie, Chris Tashima
Chris Tashima
Chris Tashima is a Japanese American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. He is the son of U.S. Circuit Judge A. Wallace Tashima...
and Takayo Fischer
Takayo Fischer
Takayo Fischer is an American stage, film and TV actress, as well as voice-over actress and singer.-Personal life:Fischer was born in Hardwick, California, the daughter of Issei Chukuro and Kinko Tsubouchi...
, and was completed in 1997, screening at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival
The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival presented every March is the nation’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian films, annually presenting approximately 130 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose, USA...
and the Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
. It also was selected to the Venice International Film Festival and won the Grand Prix at the Fukuoka Asian Film Festival.
Tajiri's father, Vincent Tajiri was the Photo Editor for Playboy Magazine during the 50's and 60's, her uncle, Shinkichi Tajiri
Shinkichi Tajiri
Shinkichi Tajiri was a Dutch-American sculptor of Japanese ancestry . He was also active in painting, photography and cinematography....
, was a prominent sculptor who resided in the Netherlands.
Tajiri continues to live and work in New York. She is currently an Associate Professor at Temple University
Temple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
, and has taught at Ithaca College, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, and SUNY Purchase.
Awards
- 1992 International Documentary Association, Distinguished Achievement Award – History and Memory
- 1992 San Francisco International Film Festival, Special Jury Award: New Visions Category -- "History and Memory"
- 1992 Atlanta Film & Video Festival, Best Experimental Video -- "History and Memory"
- 1998 Fukuoka Asian Film Festival, Grand Prix – Strawberry Fields
External links
- Rea Tajiri in the Video Data Bank
- Rea Tajiri profile on Women Make Movies site
- Rea Tajiri interview on WNETWNETWNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...
site - Rea Tajiri Fellowships listing on mediaartists.org
- Rea Tajiri profile on electronic arts intermix