In this episode of Kinward Podcast, I try to breathe and move, as well as speak, with Chisao Hata—a dancer; an artist; a community weaver and “memory activist” based in Portland, Oregon; and the daughter of two Japanese Americans who met and married at a WWII incarceration site in Poston, Arizona.
Throughout this conversation and through her work and life, Chisao affirms the power of the embodied arts in our effort to become an America that is less blinkered, less black and white, more spacious, just, and empathetic.
Chisao is a performing artist, community organizer, and global citizen artist. Her work shares the Japanese-American story with communities from Hiroshima, Japan to Cuba, and New Mexico to Ontario, Oregon. Her art incorporates community engagement and social action, and foregrounds omitted histories. She knows that “Artists, people of color and immigrants will create our New America.”
Chisao is currently hard at work directingthe Vanport Mosaic’s immersive exhibit “Coming Home: A Week of Memory Activism in Portland’s Old Town.” This "cultural week of action on race and democracy," one of 14 such projects across the country, promises to be an expansive encounter with the lesser-known histories of Old Town and Oregon. Events will happen from September 28-Oct 5. If you're in Portland during those dates, definitely go check out Chisao's magic, and the magic of many partners and collaborators, in person.
In this conversation, Chisao calls herself “a warrior for imagination,” driven to protect the innate creative capacities that all of us are born with. All of us can hold more stories than the few we're trained to repeat and believe. This is a timely and rich conversation for these polarized and amnesiac times. Listen while walking or moving, perhaps, to ground Chisao's wise words in your body as well as your mind.
For extended show notes, podcast archives, and to join the conversation, visit kinwardmoves.substack.com. Consider becoming a sustaining subscriber while you are there. Thank you! You can also follow along on Instagram @kinward_moves.
