International Conference 'Okinawan Art in its Regional Context: Historical Overview and Contemporary Practice'

Venue: University of East Anglia
Date: 10-11 October 2019

This two-day conference will address the socio-cultural complexities of Okinawan identity over the course of history, and explore the intersection between art, politics, and identity from an interdisciplinary perspective. The object of the conference and its ensuing studies is to shed light on how Okinawan arts and cultures have been shaped by internal political situations and by a triple subjugation to the United States, Japan, and China.

In this conference, we will bring together a unique selection of scholars in art history, history, politics, sociology, and performing arts, primarily to identify historical and political processes behind art and cultural forms. Intended speakers would have all undertaken case studies of Okinawan art and culture, and how it relates to changing identities and regional struggles.

Programme

10th October (9 speakers) – Historical Overview

09.00 Registration
09.30 Welcome addresses
9.50 – 10.05 Introductory Remarks
Toshio Watanabe ‘Decolonization’
10:05 – 11.35 Session 1 – Ryukyu and China
Travis Seifman ‘Ryukyu procession scrolls’
Nobuyuki Hirakawa ‘History of Ryūkyū paintings: Early Modern Ryūkyū
period’ 「琉球絵画の歴史―近世琉球期を中心に」 (Japanese)
Richard Pegg ‘For the Record: Chinese Conferment Missions to Ryūkyū
from 1372-1866’

11.35 – 11.45 Break

11.45 – 13.15 Session 2– Okinawa and Japan
Francesco Montuori ‘Okinawa’s bashōfu and its repackaging after the
Japanese annexation’
Setsuko Nitta ‘Oppression of and Admiration for Okinawan Textiles:
Commercial Items and Art Objects’
Amanda Mayer Stinchecum ‘Changing parameters, expressions, and
meanings of a simple sash from the Yaeyama Islands’

13.15-14.45 Lunch

14.45– 16.15 Keynote speaker:
Junko Kobayashi (Professor, Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts)
‘The Demise of Ryūkyū Painting’ 「琉球絵画の終焉」 (Japanese)

16.15 – 16.45 Overall Discussion Chair: Toshio Watanabe
16.45 – 17.00 Break
17.00 – 18.00 Artist’s talk
Yuken Teruya (Artist based in New York City and Berlin)
18.00 – 19.00 Music Performance by David W Hughes (SOAS) and the
London Okinawa Sanshinkai & Reception

11th October – Contemporary Practice

9:30 – 11:00 Session 3 – Contemporary Practice
Hiroko Ikegami ‘Genealogy of Okinawan Pop: Tom Max, Teruya Yuken and
Aya Rodoriguez-Izumi’
David Little ‘Shōmei Tomatsu’s Okinawa: A Foreigner’s Interpretation’
Ayelet Zohar ‘Yamashiro Chikako’s The Woman in the Butcher Shop
(2012): Okinawa as an Exchange Object, Between Japan and the USA’

11:00 – 11.15 Break
11:15 – 12.00 Haruka Iharada’s talk & Discussion (on Skype)

12:00 – 13:00 Lunch

13.00 – 14.30 Session 4 – Okinawa and U.S.
Ra Mason ‘Sports Islands Okinawa’
Seisaku Okuma ‘Dollar and Art’ 「ドルと美術」　(Japanese)
Megumi Machida ‘Vision of an Okinawan No-No Boy: Works by Hideo Kobashigawa’

14:30 – 14:40 Break

14.40 – 16.10 Session 5 – Taboo, Censorship and Diaspora
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay ‘Art and Remembrance: The Depiction of The Battle of Okinawa’
Gabriela Shimabukuro ‘Asadoya Yunta: from resisting to loving the colonizer’
Shino Yanai ‘Taboo and Humour’

16.20 – 17.20 Overall Discussion and Future Research Project

17:30 – 18:30 Reception

Sponsors:
The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures
The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation
Japan Foundation
This event is part of the Japan-UK Season of Culture 2019-2020