Residency Artist - Visual Arts

Migiwa Orimo

Email: migiwaorimo@earthlink.net
Website: www.migiwaorimo.com

I am a visual artist currently working in concept-based installation using various media. I am interested in working with youth ranging from middle to high school age as well as community-based residencies. Instead of focusing solely on object/picture making, I'd like to introduce to participants art as a framework through which they view and examine their life. In residencies I plan to explore subjects such as student's personal stories, their town, their town's industries, elders in town, student's school life and so on. Rather than simply illustrating the subjects, I'd like to encourage students to go beyond the realm of conventional visual art making. Drawing, taking pictures, writing, charting, mailing letters, mapping, collecting information and finding objects are all part of this exploration. Through this process, they will gain a new visual language and insight to help them understand their place in society.


The recent installation "Three Rooms of KIOKU" emerged from my ongoing interest in memories in public and private spaces. In my work, I ask questions: What is the act of remembering? What are personal/collective memories? And, How do these memories become history? In this three-component installation, viewers encounter three different approaches to the notion of memory: historical, personal and collective. In each room this notion is explored in many forms: concocted, dissected, failed, rebuilt, re-collected, re-imagined, and re-presented.

My primary work takes the form of installation. I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan. After receiving my degree in literature and studying graphic design,I immigrated to the US in 1981. Past venues include: the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC; the San Bernardino Museum, San Bernardino, CA; and in Ohio--the Springfield Art Museum, Dayton Art Institute, Spaces, OSU Urban Arts Space and Oberlin College. I received numerous awards formy work, including: Individual Artists Excellence Award (Ohio Arts Council, 2008, 2013); Individual Artist Fellowship Grant (Ohio Arts Council, 1996, 2004); and the Headlands Center for the Arts Residency Award (Summer, 2012). I reside and work in Yellow Springs, OH.
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