This excerpt is drawn from Asia Pacific Art Papers: 'From "Japanese art" to "art in Japan"' (QAGOMA, 2021)

In late July 2019, the Sapporo International Art Festival announced the theme and title of its 2020 edition in Japanese, English and — for the first time — the language of the Ainu people indigenous to northern Japan.

A few days later, at the 2019 Aichi Triennale, artist Kōki Tanaka premiered works from his Abstracted / Family project, one of several projects by the artist produced in collaboration with Japanese people from diverse backgrounds, touching on the experience of haafu (half-Japanese), Zainichi (generations of ethnic Koreans) and Nikkeijin (migrants of Japanese ancestry) . . . [READ MORE]

Feature image: Lee Wen / Singapore 1957–2019 / Journey of a yellow man no. 13: Fragmented bodies/shifting ground (still) 1999 / Purchased 2000. Queensland Art Gallery Foundation / © Lee Wen