Tsuru Ko in response to the Camouflage Net Project

This November, two Japanese American artists weave creative mediums to explore shared identity, history, and injustice. For the Camouflage Net Project installation at Method Gallery, exhibiting artist Tara Tamaribuchi has invited choreographer Gabrielle Nomura Gainor to create a performance within the installation. Nomura Gainor leads Tsuru Ko, an intergenerational dance troupe dedicated to Asian American storytelling. Dancers for this project include Sarah Baker, Hailey Bortel, Gabrielle Nomura Gainor, Truong Nguyen, Sarah Sakurazawa, Fumi Murakami, and Mariko Smithashima. In the performance, the dreams and inner yearnings of Asian Americans dance with the collective memory of trauma, unjust incarceration, and unknowns buried by grandparents and great-grandparents. Tamaribuchi began weaving camouflage nets with kimono fabric after seeing Dorothea Lange’s photo documentation of young Japanese Americans making nets for the US Army as prison labor during World War II. The kimono fabric sends pride of heritage to her incarcerated community, while the function of camouflage to visually blend and protect objects and people, is reread as a visual filter through which we see all people as interconnected. There will be primarily standing room for this approximately 20 minute performance. If the ticket cost is prohibitive, please reach out at info@methodgallery.com