Roger Shimomura

(b. 1939) Japanese American painter, printmaker & professor

Grandmother's background as a nurse in Japan Grandfather's arrival in the U.S., experiencing discrimination Grandmother's experience in the U.S. as a picture bride Playing a racist game with other children Depicting issues of ethnic identity through childhood artwork Japanese American community life Receiving a negative reaction from father upon asking about World War II experience Dealing with racism within army unit in Korea A conversation with a farmer in Kansas Collection of artifacts depicting racial stereotypes influences art

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Roger Shimomura's paintings, prints, and theater pieces address sociopolitical issues of Asian America. Many of his works are inspired by the diaries kept by his late immigrant grandmother for fifty-six years. Shimomura has had more than 100 solo exhibitions of his paintings and prints, and has presented his experimental theater pieces at such venues as the Franklin Furnace, New York; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Widely honored as an educator, he was designated a University Distinguished Professor by the University of Kansas. In 2001 the College Art Association presented him with the Artist Award for Most Distinguished Body of Work in recognition of his four-year, twelve-museum national tour of the painting exhibition An American Diary. He retired from teaching in 2004.

Shimomura's personal papers are being collected by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. He is represented by galleries in New York, Chicago, Kansas City, Miami, and Seattle.

*The full interview is available Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

nurse Russo-Japanese war discrimination immigration migration racism picture brides Post-World War II identity community culture camps incarceration internment redress army Korean War stereotypes