Out of ordinary/extraordinary, May 13 through June 18
Topic: Photo
Out of ordinary/extraordinary: Japanese contemporary photography at the JACCC Doizaki Gallery, May 13 through June 18

The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center and The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, present Out of ordinary/extraordinary: Japanese contemporary photography, an exhibition featuring the work of eleven different exciting Japanese artists.

The exhibition, which is sponsored in part by The Japan Foundation, Los Angeles, will be in the George J. Doizaki Gallery, on the main floor of the JACCC from Saturday May 13 and runs through Sunday June 18.

The exhibit’s opening on Saturday, May 13, also marks the 23rd Annual Children’s Day or “Kodomo no Hi” Celebration. The Family FunFest features free performances, games, crafts, delicious food, hand-crafted items for sale. This year will offer Discovery Workshops series, designed to give children and adults special hands-on cultural experiences led by professional artists and cultural teachers.

Out of ordinary/extraordinary features images that are fun, insightful, sometimes disturbing and intriguing: Out of the ordinary/extraordinary: Japanese contemporary photography shows a new collective voice by examining cultural and societal norms.

An opening reception is scheduled for Saturday, May 13, 2006, 2 p.m. - 4 p.m.
The Exhibition runs Saturday, May 13 through June 18, 2006.
The gallery is open Tuesday-Friday 12 noon to 5 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Admission is free. For information call the Aratani/Japan America Theatre Box office at 213. 680-3700, open Monday - Saturday from 12 noon to 5pm. The George J. Doizaki Gallery is located in the JACCC is located at 244 S. San Pedro Street in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Convenient parking is located on San Pedro Street across from the JACCC.

This is an API/2 event, which is supported by grants from The James Irvine Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

The JACCC launched the Asian and Pacific Islander Artist Presenting Initiative (API/2) in Fall 2003 to support the creative process of API performing and visual artists who are developing work for presentation to the public. With initial three-year funding from The James Irvine Foundation, the goal of API/2 is to strengthen the artistic capacity of exemplary Asian and Pacific Islander artists, and to deepen public understanding and appreciation of API arts and cultural heritage.

Vintage photographs capturing post-war Japan at Hammer Museum, Mar. 5- Jun. 4
Topic: Photo
A Letter from Japan: The Photographs of John Swope (1908-1979) on view at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Westwood from March 5 through June 4,
is the first in-depth presentation of vintage prints from the late Los Angeles photographer’s 1945 journey through post-war Japan. Shot during a three-and-a-half-week period, Swope’s photographs vividly document the impact of World War II on the local population of Japan as well as on the Allied soldiers and prisoners of war.

The exhibition presents over 115 prints, and gives insight into Swope’s larger pursuit of capturing the universal human experience by also including highlights of his work as a renowned Hollywood photographer and his international travels from the 1930s through 1970s.

Early on, Swope became best known for his insider views of Hollywood in which he captured both the glamorous and the mundane sides of life through intimate portraits of celebrities and behind-the-scenes views of movie and theatrical productions. He went on to have a successful career as a freelance Life magazine photographer, where he frequently covered similar stories on Hollywood.

The exhibition includes significant loans from the John Swope Trust, Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts in Yanamashi prefecture, Craig Krull Gallery, Ben Stiller, and other private collections.

Capturing post-war Japan

In 1945, John Swope was chosen by the influential photographer and subsequent Museum of Modern Art curator Edward Steichen to join an elite group of U.S. Navy photographers assigned to tell the story of World War II from the perspective of the average sailor.

The photographs, which would ultimately be disseminated in military and popular national publications, were intended to reinforce American patriotic ideals.

Swope’s three-and-a-half-week Japan assignment lasted from August 28 through September 19, 1945—a time of limbo between war and peace—during which Swope was assigned to document the release of Allied prisoners of war on a journey throughout Japan.

Challenging the Navy’s rules about fraternizing with the Japanese civilians, Swope widened his artistic focus beyond his official assignment to explore another side of the military struggle—the personal, moving moments of individuals and families struggling in the aftermath of war.

His poignant photographs of Japanese people going about their daily lives in harsh post-war conditions include timeless, poetic images capturing such moments as a mother pushing her child in a carriage through a desolate street, a farm worker wearing a typical bamboo hat walking in the rice fields, and the beautiful landscape of Ohashi reminiscent of traditional Japanese woodblock prints.

Throughout Swope’s Japan tour, he wrote an emotional and insightful 144-page letter to his wife, Dorothy McGuire. In his letter, he articulates his conflicted feelings about the war and his position as a representative of the victors.

Swope was particularly sensitive to how much the war had impacted the local population as he had visited Japan 15 years earlier as a young man. His letter notes these changes and tells personal stories about the prisoners and Japanese people whom he encounters and photographs. Swope begins the letter on August 30, 1945 while anchored in Tokyo Bay:

Public programs

The Hammer Museum presents several free public programs related to A Letter from Japan, including gallery talks, screenings, discussions, and lectures: Discussion on WWII Prisons of War, Date to be determined, John A. Glusman, editor-in-chief and executive vice president of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, with William Barrette, artist and writer; Propaganda Film Night, Thursday, April 6, 7 p.m., Screenings of Japanese and American World War II propaganda films; Lecture, May 4, 7 p.m., Anne Wilkes Tucker, curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Gallery Talk, Saturday, June 3, 2 p.m., Carolyn Peter, Letter from Japan exhibition curator.

The Hammer Museum is located at 10899 Wilshire Boulevard, at Westwood Boulevard. Parking is available under the Museum. Rates are $3 for the first two hours with the museum validation, $1.50 for each additional 20 minutes.

For current museum information, visit www.hammer.ucla.edu or call (310) 443-7000. Museum hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 11a.m.–7 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; closed Mondays. General admission is $5. The Museum is free for everyone on Thursdays.

(Photo)
John Swope. Arai, September 5, 1945. John Swope Collection, ? John Swope Trust.