Rino Kodama

Rino Kodama (they/them/theirs) recently graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in art and minoring in Asian American studies. They are a shin-issei artist who co-creates with earth materials, alchemizing internal transformations through clay cocoons and natural dyes. They embrace creative collaboration and are grateful for healing spaces that help nurture radical connections such as Vigilant Love and Seraphim Dream. Currently they are based in their hometown Santa Clara, California, also known as Ohlone land. More of their art can be found here: https://wwwa.com/.rinokodam.

Updated February 2021

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

In this moment

While we typically link a theme together from the poems we receive from two or more writers, this month we're featuring two voices whose pieces are situated very personally within their own moments, within their own season. Seattle-based Sansei Carolee Okamoto just began writing in 2017 as a way to process her family history and shares with us a poem linked to the annual Day Of Remembrance commemorating the signing of Executive Order 9066. And at the top here, along with their beautiful artwork, we feature some stream-of-consciousness prose by Rino Kodama. I offered Rino a few prompts (&ldquo…

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Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Negotiating Place

Here we have a first for the Nikkei Uncovered poetry column - a collaborative piece between two wondrous young Nikkei, both University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) students and “Shin-Nisei,” 1.5 generation artists. They write this from the place of anticipating their Pilgrimage together to Manzanar this month, alongside their cohort of the Vigilant Love Solidarity Arts Fellowship, which brings together college age Nikkei and Muslim activist/artists. Rino and Sophia, featured here, wrote together with such generosity that comes through in their piece of contemplation and insig…

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