Tomiyama Taeko

Tomiyama Taeko
富山妙子
Born(1921-11-06)November 6, 1921
Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
DiedAugust 18, 2021(2021-08-18) (aged 99)
Tokyo, Japan
NationalityJapanese
Occupation(s)visual artist, writer, journalist, illustrator
Years active1953–2021
Known forslideshows, books, and artworks addressing Japanese imperialism and feminist issues
Notable workPrayer in Memory ～ Gwangju, May 1980; Memories of the Sea; Harbin: Requiem for the Twentieth Century
In this Japanese name, the surname is Tomiyama.

Tomiyama Taeko (富山妙子, 6 November 1921 – 18 August 2021) was a Japanese visual artist and writer whose work addressed the moral, emotional, and social issues related to nationalist, patriarchal, colonial, and post-colonial power structures in East Asia. Tomiyama used popular media such as oil painting, lithographic prints, collages, multimedia slideshows, books, and installations to explore marginalized figures.[1] From the 1980s on, much of her work drew on indigenous Asian mythology, symbols, and aesthetics as a critique and rejection of the violent, exploitative, Euro-American-centric values embedded in modernist thinking.[2] She was a devoted feminist, leftist, and anti-nationalist whose work told the stories of miners, ethnic minorities, comfort women, Minjung activists, and other marginalized groups to advocate for a reckoning with the nuances of colonial and imperial histories of Japan in Asia. Tomiyama died in August 2021, at the age of 99.[3]

  1. ^ Jennison, Rebecca (1997). ""Postcolonial" Feminist Locations: The Art of Tomiyama Taeko and Shimada Yoshiko". U.S.-Japan Women's Journal. English Supplement (12): 84–108. JSTOR 42772109.
  2. ^ Hein, Laura (2010). "Postcolonial Conscience: Making Moral Sense of Japan's Modern World". In Hein, Laura; Jennison, Rebecca (eds.). Imagination without Borders: Feminist Artist Tomiyama Taeko and Social Responsibility. Ann Arbor, MI: U OF M CENTER FOR JAPANESE STUDIES. p. 19. doi:10.3998/mpub.9340221. ISBN 978-1-929280-62-9.
  3. ^ Takeda, Hajime (19 August 2021). "画家の富山妙子さん死去 光州事件テーマ、海外にも影響". Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 19 August 2021.