From March to April 3, the L. H. Horton Jr. Gallery at Delta College is highlighting diaspora stories exemplifying art that talks about cultural diversity with struggles of memory and belonging.
The artists showcased include Ellen Bepp, Vivian Chiu, Jose Flores Nava, Jessica Sabogal, Shanna Strauss, Rashod Taylor, Rupy C. Tut, and Arleen Correa Valencia.
Ellen Bepp, a third generation Japanese American from Oakland uses her multimedia art to present issues on social injustice. Bepp’s showcased art pays special attention to the Japanese internment camps that forced Japanese Americans into internment during World War II.
One powerful piece by Bepp called “Targets” made in 2022, creates a story on the events that led to the internment camps. What others may see as an unfinished piece, Bepp thought ahead of as a powerful pull to bring the audience into the story.
“The reason for adding the pledge of alliance but not finishing it is because I grew up in the 1950’s, we were raised to be loyal citizens of the United States and say the pledge of allegiance every morning. My thought was my family had to go to concentration camps during the war, I imagined a person at home embroidering that and being called to get out of their homes and being shipped to go off to Wyoming,” said Bepp.
Another artist that is displaying their artwork is Arleene Correa Valencia. Valencia was born in Michoacán, Mexico and later moved to Napa. Valencia’s work represents abandonment and separation.
Some of Valencia’s art work that is displayed is a mix of embroidery and textiles. One collection was created in 2021, its appeal comes from when Ultraviolet(UV) light is reflected on it, you can see the child reflected brightly with their parents but without this light there is an empty shadow.
Power titles in Spanish are attached to the artwork like “Te Espere” (I Waited for You) or “Caminaria por Siempre” (I Would Walk for Eternity). Valencia was inspired to create this work by past letters she sent to her father when he moved to Napa, leaving Valencia with her mother and siblings.
During Valencia’s artists talk she provided an insight into the background of these pieces.
“You can see the ways that the body is separate and come together again. To me, the bodies are always fighting to be together, they want to be together but they can’t because the lights change. I think that’s reflective not just of human experience at large but also policy and immigration policy. We are manipulated to think that our skin color should separate us or that our financial status will separate us but in reality we are all the same” said Valencia.
Rupy C. Tut is an artist from Chandigarh, India who migrated to the U.S. age 12. Tut’s art showcases questioning gender roles and preserving the climate while adding compliments to her Indian Sikh roots.
Two works that are being displayed in the gallery are called “Beeji Da Ghar” (My Grandmother’s Home).
From an interview by the Joan Mitchell Foundation conducted by Jenny Gill In the Studio: Rupy C. Tut.
“Through these works, I recognize and explore the intergenerational and even generational experiences of a home, and how a home becomes a character in our lives in so many ways. A home, as seen in these paintings, is a place of rest, a place to hold memories in, and a place to develop dreams within. However, this relationship to home varies between generations—as influenced by patriarchal limitations, economic freedoms, individual expressions of personhood, and overall relationship and expression of boundaries—all part of daily negotiations in the life of a woman,” said Tut.
For more information go to https://www.deltacollege.edu/dca/horton-gallery/current-exhibits/diaspora-stories-exhibition
