Chikako Yamashiro facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Chikako Yamashiro
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| Born | 1976 (age 48–49) |
| Nationality |  Japanese |
| Alma mater | Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts Surrey Institute of Art & Design, University College |
| Occupation | Film maker and video artist |
Chikako Yamashiro (山城 知佳子, Yamashiro Chikako, born 1976) is a Japanese filmmaker and video artist. She creates art using photos, videos, and performances. Her work explores the history, politics, and culture of her home, Okinawa.
Yamashiro often focuses on the difficult experiences of Okinawan people during World War II. She also highlights the ongoing challenges caused by the U.S. military presence there. Since 2019, she has been a professor at the Tokyo University of the Arts.
She has won several awards for her art. These include the Asian Art Award (2017) and the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (2020-2022).
Contents
Early Life and Art Studies
Chikako Yamashiro was born in Naha, Okinawa, in 1967. She grew up on the island. She first studied oil painting at the Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. This was in 1999.
In 2000, she studied art in the UK. She later earned her master's degree in Environmental Design in 2002.
Exploring Okinawan Identity Through Art
Early Performance Art
As a student, Yamashiro started with oil painting. She also made art installations on Okinawa's beaches. She soon felt these art forms did not fully connect with her Okinawan identity.
She began looking for art that truly reflected Okinawa. This led her to ancient spiritual places and rituals on the islands. She became very interested in Okinawan tombs and graveyards. She felt these places held a strong connection to the past.
When she returned to Okinawa, she used tombs as sites for her early performances.
- Okinawa Graveyard Club (2004) is a video. In it, Yamashiro dances in front of a grave.
- Graveyard Series (2004-2007) shows photos of her playful acts at graves.
She said these works celebrate Okinawa's "rich outlook on life and death." Gravesites were chosen because Okinawans often visit them. They maintain gardens and share meals with ancestors there. This tradition is called seimeisai.
Art experts say these performances also show Yamashiro's interest in "borders." A grave can be seen as a border between life and death. Her art explores how these lines can become blurry.
Yamashiro also explored borders related to land in Okinawa. Her video BORDER (2003) shows her walking along a fence. This fence divides U.S. and Okinawan land. The video reveals an Okinawan tomb that became part of U.S. territory. This meant people could no longer visit it easily. From this point on, the relationship between Okinawa and the U.S. bases became a main theme in her art.
OKINAWA TOURIST series (2004)
Yamashiro showed her important video series OKINAWA TOURIST in 2004. This was her first big show as a video and performance artist. The series has three short performances:
- Graveyard Eisa
- I Like Okinawa Sweet
- Trip to Japan
Graveyard Eisa and I Like Okinawa Sweet were filmed in Okinawa. Graveyard Eisa shows a dance group performing at a gravesite. I Like Okinawa Sweet features Yamashiro eating ice cream near a military base fence. Trip to Japan takes place in Tokyo. Yamashiro pretends to be an Okinawan guide. She holds up a picture of an Okinawan tomb.
Yamashiro made these performances to challenge how Okinawa was shown in popular culture. Many shows portrayed Okinawa as a perfect, sunny paradise. After the September 11 attacks, the government promoted this image even more. They wanted to assure people Okinawa was safe to visit.
The OKINAWA TOURIST series uses humor to show the real Okinawa. It reveals that the island is not just a tourist spot. For example, I Like Okinawa Sweet shows a young woman near soldiers. This scene might make people think about how the presence of soldiers affected local people.
Art About Bases and Water
Between 2007 and 2008, Yamashiro made two videos. They focused on how military bases affect Okinawa's beaches and waters. These works are Shore Connivance — Shore of Ibano, Urasoe City — Complex.1 — (2007) and Seaweed Women (2008).
Shore Connivance is set on a beach in Urasoe. This beach was once full of wildlife because it was near the bases. In her video, Yamashiro talks to an older man. He tells her how Okinawans used this beach as their own meeting place. They found a way to use the land despite the unclear rules.
Yamashiro called this beach a "grey zone." This term comes from a word used for land taken by U.S. forces. Okinawans were later quietly allowed to farm this land. Yamashiro saw these "grey zones" as a sign of Okinawan strength. But they were always at risk from the U.S. military.
These ideas of borders and hidden tensions also shaped Seaweed Women (2008). This video was filmed in several water locations. One was the "mokunin hama" beach from Shore Connivance. Another was Henoko, a bay where a new base was planned.
The video is seen from the viewpoint of a fictional "seaweed woman" underwater. You can hear her gasping for air as she swims. As Yamashiro crosses invisible borders between U.S. and Okinawan waters, she finds signs of the military. These include an army tank on the seabed and Japanese coast guards. The act of filming in restricted waters and the presence of coast guards hint at real-life protests. People protesting base development in Henoko were sometimes stopped by coast guards.
Inheritance series (2008-2010)
The Inheritance series (2008-2010) includes photos and a video. The video is called Your Voice Came Out Through My Throat (2009). Yamashiro made this work after leading a workshop. The workshop helped Okinawan survivors of World War II share their stories. Many were hesitant to speak at first.
In the video, Yamashiro stands in front of a white background. The camera is close to her face. A projection of an elderly man's face is shown on hers. Yamashiro silently mouths the story he tells in the video.
Yamashiro explained why she chose to reenact the story. She found it hard to truly understand the survivors' experiences just by listening. She also couldn't imagine their stories because she hadn't lived through similar events. By memorizing and repeatedly performing the man's story, she felt she could finally connect with his pain.
By using her own body, Yamashiro helps pass these important stories to younger generations. The photos in this series also show the sharing of memory. They capture scenes where elderly people surround Yamashiro, touching her.
Mud Man (2016)
Yamashiro's well-known video Mud Man (2016) connects Okinawa to other parts of Asia. It explores the lasting effects of war and colonialism in these countries. The video starts with wide fields and hands rising from the grass. People covered in mud look at a bird's nest. The sound of dropping bird droppings sends them into a flashback.
This flashback takes them to a dark ditch. The ditch then becomes a battlefield. The "mud men" watch real footage from the Battle of Okinawa, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. Yamashiro mixes past and present images throughout the work. She shows modern "war" images, like protestors against base development. She also includes shots of old U.S. weapon storage facilities in Okinawa. The video ends with hands rising from a field of white trumpet lilies, with applause.
Mud Man is special because it uses footage Yamashiro shot outside Japan. For this work, she traveled to Gangjeong village in Korea. There, the Jeju Naval Base was recently finished. This base helps U.S. military operations in Asia. Like many base projects in Okinawa, the Jeju Naval Base faced strong local protests.
Yamashiro highlights the connection between Okinawa and Korea. She uses historical war footage from both countries. Poems are also read in Korean, Okinawan dialect, and Japanese. Mud Man was very popular. Yamashiro won the Asian Art Award in 2017 for this video.
Publications and Works
Publications
- Chikako Yamashiro. Tokyo: Yumiko Chiba Associates, 2012.
- Asanuma, Keiko (editor). Circulating World: The Art of Chikako Yamashiro. Tokyo: Yumiko Chiba Associates, 2016.
Selected Works
Here are some of Chikako Yamashiro's important works:
- 2003: BORDER
- 2004: Okinawa Graveyard Club (Japanese title: OKINAWA墓庭クラブ)
- 2004: OKINAWA TOURIST series (Japanese title: オキナワ TOURIST シリーズ)
- Graveyard Eisa (Japanese title: 墓庭エイサー)
- Trip to Japan (Japanese title: 日本への旅).
- I like Okinawa Sweet
- 2004-2007: Graveyard series (Japanese title: 墓庭シリーズ)
- 2007: Shore Connivance — Shore of Ibano, Urasoe City — Complex.1 — (Japanese title: 黙認浜 — 浦添市イバノの海 — Complex.1 —)
- 2008: Seaweed Woman (Japanese title: アーサ女)
- 2008-2010: Inheritance series (Japanese title: 継承シリーズ)
- 2009: Your voice came out through my throat (Japanese title: あなたの声は私の喉を通った)
- 2010: Sinking Voices, Red Breath (Japanese title: 沈む声、紅い息)
- 2010; re-edited in 2012: Choros of the Melodies (Japanese title: コロスの唄)
- 2012: A Woman of the Butcher Shop (Japanese title: 肉屋の女)
- 2015: The Beginning of Creation, Abduction / A child (Japanese title: 創造の発端ーアブダクション/子供ー)
- 2016: Mud Man (Japanese title: 土の人)
- 2019: Chinbin Western: Representation of the Family (Japanese title: チンビン·ウェスタン家族の表象)
Exhibitions
Yamashiro's video art and photographs have been shown in Japan and around the world.
Selected solo exhibitions (shows featuring only her work):
- 2002: Woman at Graveyard (Maejima Art Center, Okinawa)
- 2004: OKINAWA TOURIST (Maejima Art Center, Okinawa)
- 2012: MAM Project 018: Yamashiro Chikako (Mori Art Museum Gallery 1, Tokyo)
- 2016: The Beginning of Creation: Abduction/ A Child (Yumiko Chiba Associates, Tokyo)
- 2017: The Sea of Being (RENEMIA, Okinawa)
- 2018: Shapeshifter (White Rainbow, London)
Selected group exhibitions (shows featuring many artists):
- 2008: Okinawa Prismed 1872-2008 (The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
- 2009: Into the Atomic Sunshine in Okinawa (Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum)
- 2010: Yebisu International Festival for Art & Alternative Visions: Searching Songs (Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography)
- 2012-13: Women In-Between: Asian Women Artists 1984-2012 (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum and others)
- 2015: East Asia Feminism: FANTasia (Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul/Korea)
- 2015-16: The 8th Asian Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (Queensland Art Gallery /Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane/Australia)
- 2016: Aichi Triennale (the former Meiji-ya Sakae Building, Aichi)
- 2016-17: SEVEN JAPANESE ROOMS (Fondazione Carispezia, La Spezia/Italy)
- 2016-17: From Generation to Generation: Inherited Memory and Contemporary Art (Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco)
- 2018: Asia Pacific Breweries Foundation Signature Art Prize 2018 (National Museum of Singapore)
- 2018: The Special Exhibition of the 70th anniversary of Jeju April 3rd massacre : Post Trauma (Jeju Museum of Art, Korea)
- 2019: Image Narratives: Literature in Japanese Contemporary Art The National Art Center, Tokyo
In 2018, Yamashiro performed her work And I Go through You at the Kyoto Art Center.
