And

Beyond Obsequious: Honor, Abjection, and Agency in Japanese American Visual Culture
A Lecture by Exhibition Artist Scott Tsuchitani Tuesday, April 24
6:00pm Maier in Fromm Hall (University of San Francisco Main Campus)

How can art intervene in culturalist discourse to create space for a more diversely inclusive and activated notion of citizenship? This artist talk will pick up on ideas posed by preceding Davis Forum speakers—about mechanisms for remembering and forgetting critical lessons of history (Lisa Yoneyama); and the dynamics of “polite racism” and notions of national belonging (Takashi Fujitani)—to discuss the artwork in the Davies exhibition and the influences that inspired it. Tsuchitani will share his own inquiry into issues of race and identity as they have played out in the arena of Japanese American visual representation during the course of his lifetime, along with the aesthetic strategies that he has employed to leverage this awareness into effective forms of cultural resistance, agency, and interventional change.

Scott Tsuchitani is an interdisciplinary visual artist based in San Francisco. His art has been shown in New York, Los Angeles, Detroit, and appeared in San Francisco at venues such as San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Meridian Gallery, Asian Art Museum and de Young Museum. His socially engaged interventions have been recognized by scholars from a range of disciplines around the United States, and have demonstrated impact on academic discourse on four continents. Prior to becoming a visual artist, Tsuchitani worked in documentary film on international productions and alongside Academy Award-winning filmmakers. His own documentary, Meeting at Tule Lake, aired on regional PBS television, national public access, and at film festivals in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. He also co-authored two patents during a previous career as an engineer in the medical device industry. Tsuchitani holds masters degrees from the University of California, Berkeley and San Diego, and a bachelors from Berkeley as well, all of them in engineering. He received his formal art education at City College of San Francisco.

All Davies events are free and open to the public.