Joan Takayama-Ogawa: Ceramic Beacon

18
zaiden
(FIG. 4)
America’s Crude
Awakening
2000–2021
Glazed earthenware
19
ceramic beacon
Continually contemplating the ceramic
vessel as metaphor, Takayama-Ogawa
recognized how American dependencies on
oil were causing massive systemic problems
that spilled over into various sectors. She
had previously crafted precarious towers
of tea cups, saucers, and teapots to reflect
her views on gender role inequalities. For
America’s Crude Awakening, she stacked
up a pile of ceramic cars and perched a
pitcher on top of them (FIG. 4). Playing with
gravity, she sculpted unsettling, imbalanced
forms that represented global instabilities.
This structural approach is one that she has
repeatedly employed over time.
9/11 was a pivotal moment for the artist. Takayama-Ogawa
learned what had happened as she was about to fly from lax to
Chicago for the sofa art and design fair. Her first reaction was an
immediate sense of doom over who would be targeted for the
attack. She jumped into creative action by deciding to make sure
that people would remember how Japanese Americans, including
her own family members, were treated during wwii. The incarceration
had destroyed the Takayama side of her family. Like
many others, her relatives lost everything they had achieved as a
result of the forced relocation. Her hope was that history would
not repeat and that people of any cultural background would not
endure what had happened half a century prior.