West campus news Releases Archive
ASU sound and video artist featured in month-long exhibit
Mar. 14, 2005
Richard Lerman teams with Mona Higuchi for 'Relocation: Alaska 1942-45'
Richard Lerman (right), professor of media arts in ASU’s New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences, has teamed with installation artist Mona Higuchi on a new exhibit on display in Phoenix at the Burton Barr Central Library, titled “Relocation: Alaska 1942-45.” The exhibit runs through March 28.
The installation centers on the forced evacuation of the Aleut people from the Aleutian Chain to southeast Alaska during World War II.
Lerman and Higuchi were recently interviewed by Rene Gutel for the National Public Radio affiliate in Phoenix, KJZZ-FM. That interview is available online at: http://www.kjzz.org/news/arizona/archives/200503/aleutevacuations
Lerman, a sound and video artist who teaches in the department of Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance at ASU’s West campus, and installation artist Mona Higuchi have collaborated on several interdisciplinary installations based on historical events and human rights issues. Their work, both collaboratively and individually, has been presented internationally. For this installation, Lerman and Higuchi traveled to sites where the Aleuts were relocated in southeastern Alaska to develop their visual metaphors. In their travels to the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands, they used audio and video to document the people and their environment.
“Any artwork examining a historical injustice has a double life. It informs about the past and acts as a lens into the present to evoke a memory. We designed this site-specific installation to represent the land of the Aleuts and the densely forested sites of the relocation camps. The 900 names of the evacuees float above a 26-foot-long map of the Aleutian Islands. Three video monitors continuously play DVD recordings of the wildlife, landscape, cemeteries, buildings and sound installations that I created at many sites,” Lerman said.
The installation can be viewed in the library’s @Central Gallery and is free to the public. The Burton Barr Central Library is located at 1221 N. Central Ave., Phoenix.
“We were delighted to be able to work with the city of Phoenix on this project. It’s a great example of how the university can reach out artistically and be closely involved in the life of the community on important social issues,” Lerman added.
@Central Gallery presents solo and group art exhibitions featuring the work of emerging and established Arizona artists. “Relocation: Alaska 1942-45,” funded in part by the Arizona Commission on the Arts, represents the first-ever collaboration between the Interdisciplinary Arts and Performance Department at ASU’s West campus and the Phoenix Library.
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