College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

I consider my work to be artifacts of my own particular culture, which is not a generalized Japanese American culture but a smaller, more specific unit made up of my immediate family, where customs and idioms are born out of misunderstandings or idiosyncrasies, and myths and legends are often formed through the struggles of everyday life.

All culture operate through myths, symbols, and codes that are embodied in their artifacts. I am fascinated by the development of my culture. I see my art-making practice as an investigation that captures and documents my ever-changing, mutating, polyglot reality. I am not interested in finding the answer. I am interested in in the exploration that keeps me fascinated and curious.

My work is informed by my life, contingent on my ordinary, real-world experiences as a middle-class, Japanese-American dad, who is simply trying to make sense of it all.