Explorations—Playwright Julia Izumi and the Invention of Japanese American Art and Identity

Experience The Met collection anew as artists working across disciplines—including poetry, theater, design, and more—respond to works on view in encounters that can only happen at The Met. Join playwright and performer Julia Izumi as she explores the lives of Bumpei Usui and Yasuo Kuniyoshi, two Japanese American artists trying to make art in this country in a time when they couldn’t even become citizens. Using manzai, a traditional Japanese form of comedy, guests are invited to witness whimsical resurrections of Usui and Kuniyoshi—played by Izumi and fellow Japanese American theater artist Aya Ogawa—compare modern art styles of the East and West and discuss what it means to be a Japanese American artist as the identity is just being invented.