PROMISE LAND

Habitat Contemporary Gallery is proud to present the works of Sumire Skye Taniai .

Exhibition date: 09.01.23 -10.13.23

Exhibition statement:

On May 6, 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese laborers from entering the United States for 10 years. They attacked Chinese businesses and banned them from engaging in nonagricultural work to prevent them from competing with whites. Around the same time, Anti-Asian movements spread through popular culture through theatre and magazines. It conveyed that Asian people bring filth, diseases, immorality, and ruin the white labor. More recently and for many decades, Hollywood movies have objectified Asian women and Asian men as Kung-fu masters. What is the experience of living as a marginalized American today? The artist uses humor and irony to soften the cruel realities. Through painting and photomontage, she asks the viewer to take a good look at stereotypes, immigration, and how the experience has shaped them to be resilient Americans.

 About: Sumire Skye Taniai was born in Iwakuni City, Japan where it is known for the U.S. Marine base. Ever since she moved to America in grade school, Taniai has been living in the Midwest for two decades. Taniai received her BFA from the University of Missouri in 2016 and an MFA with a full-merit scholarship from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019.

Exhibition opening reception on 09.01.23 from 5-8 PM

Closes 10.13.23