University Art Gallery at SDSU Presents Reflecting on Ruth Asawa and the Garden of Remembrance
It’s been 83 years since Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced the incarceration of 125,000 people with Japanese ancestry. Now the University Art Gallery exhibition Reflecting on Ruth Asawa and the Garden of Remembrance brings together six artists whose work showcases the impact that order has today. The exhibition runs through Saturday, April 12, 2025.
Chantel Paul, San Diego State University galleries and exhibitions coordinator shares the hope that visitors will connect with history on a more personal level:
“We hope visitors to the exhibition and related public programming will gain a more personal understanding of this dark time in American history and a deeper sense of how events of the past share relevance with current circumstances,” Paul said.
Reflecting on Ruth Asawa and the Garden of Remembrance examines the legacy of Japanese American incarceration during WWII through the lens of the Garden of Remembrance, a permanent public art memorial created by Ruth Asawa and others for San Francisco State University’s campus, honoring the resilience of this community. This is the second iteration of Reflecting on Ruth Asawa and the Garden of Remembrance, the first being at SFSU last Spring.
The exhibition is co-organized by the SDSU Art Galleries and SFSU’s Fine Arts Gallery and is co-curated by SFSU Fine Arts Gallery Director Sharon E. Bliss, and SFSU Lecturer in art and Curator for the Fine Arts Gallery Kevin B. Chen.
“(Bliss, Chen,) and I were in contact with one another and we all thought it would be incredible to bring this exhibition and the work of these Bay Area artists to San Diego,” Paul said.
Paul shared that this “exhibition would share artists who were not yet exhibited or lesser known in San Diego: Mark Baugh Sasaki, Ruka Kashiwagi, Paul Kitagaki Jr., Lisa Solomon, and TT Takemoto, while also providing opportunities for collaboration with the Japanese American community in our region.”
Those artists joined SDSU Professor Emerita Wendy Maruyama and created this iteration of the exhibition. The artists all came to campus.
“Because the artists were needed on-site and have been able to travel to San Diego, it's been wonderful to have such close collaborations for the exhibition,” Paul said. “We were able to create dynamic programming for the campus community with lectures and artist-led workshops, as well as to have them present for our public events.”
Reflecting on Ruth Asawa and the Garden of Remembrance runs through Saturday, April 12, 2025. Gallery hours are 12-4 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts events calendar.
