Tomie Arai

[1] Her works consist of temporary and permanent multimedia site-specific art pieces that deal with topics of gender, community, and racial identity,[2] and are influenced by her Japanese heritage and the urban experience of living in New York.At the time, Arai created posters, brochures and promotional materials for community groups as part of Citibank’s Graphic Support program.She sat on the Boards of the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, where she served as its first artist-in-residence, the Lower East Side Printshop, Printed Matter, the Women’s Studio Workshop and the Bread and Roses Cultural Project of the 1199 Health and Hospitals Workers Union.[13] Her work demonstrates her persistent commitment to documenting and reclaiming a variety of peoples’ untold histories while it simultaneously also engages viewers in dialogue with contemporary social struggles.[14] Later, in 2006, Arai constructed the site-specific work Swirl out of wood, steel, and silk screened photographs of local members of the community.[15][17] The artwork itself is a large display of family photographs, shaped like the Chinese jade bi, situated in the Vine Street Expressway.
Renewal , (1998) at the Ted Weiss Federal Building in Lower Manhattan , New York City
New York CityChinatown Art BrigadeLibrary of CongressBronx Museum of the ArtsJapanese American National MuseumWilliams College Museum of ArtMuseum of Modern ArtWhitney MuseumJapanese AmericanAsian Americanwoman of colorBasement WorkshopLower East SideCitibankLower East Side PrintshopWomen’s Studio WorkshopSelf Help GraphicsGodzillaTed Weiss Federal BuildingLower Manhattanpublic artPhiladelphiaChinese AmericansNational Endowment for the ArtsMuseum of Chinese in AmericaNew York City Department of Cultural AffairsPercent for ArtGeneral Services AdministrationSan Francisco Arts CommissionP. S. 1 MuseumLower East Side Tenement MuseumBuffalo, New YorkAsian Arts InitiativeCenter for Book ArtsAfrican Burial GroundJohn F. StreetChinese jade biVine Street ExpresswayPelham ParkwayMuseum of Chinese in the AmericasNational Gallery of ArtAsian Women Giving CirclePuffin FoundationAnonymous Was A Woman AwardHarriet RohmerChildren's Book PressFales Library