Janice Tanaka is a Japanese-American media artist born in

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^{'' ate?'} known for making experimental videos. Tanaka is best known for ''Memories from the Department of Amnesia,'' an experimental documentary about the death of her mother, and ''Who's Going to Pay for These Donuts Any'', which chronicles the life of her father, who was interned in camps during

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Early life

Tanaka received her Bachelor of Fin degree in 1978 and

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

degree in 1981 from the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

. She began her artistic career as a dancer before shifting her focus to film and documentaries. Tanaka's parents—Jack Koto Tanaka and Lily Tanaka—married prior to World War II. The family was

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without Criminal charge, charges or Indictment, intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects ...

at the Manzanar Japanese Internment Camp during World War II following the signing of

Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9066 was a President of the United States, United States presidential executive order signed and issued during World War II by United States president Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942. "This order authorized the fo ...

. Her father protested the internment, and was arrested by the

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. After being diagnosed with

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

, he was institutionalized. Lily divorced Jack during the war, and moved the family to a predominantly white neighborhood in Chicago.

Career

Tanaka started her career as a ballet dancer with the Allegro American Ballet in 1955. In 1957 she performed with the

Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo The company Ballets Russes de Monte-Carlo (with a plural name) was formed in 1932 after the death of Sergei Diaghilev and the demise of Ballets Russes. Its director was Wassily de Basil (usually referred to as Colonel W. de Basil), and it ...

. From 1960 to 1961 she danced with the Jim Hetzer's Japanese Spectacular. She studied music composition at the Conservatorio International de Musica from 1961 to 1964. After receiving her MFAdegree from the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a Private university, private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which gr ...

, she taught ay the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

(UCLA) in 1980. From 1982 to 1985 she was at the

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1890, it has 6,493 students (as of fall 2021) pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It i ...

. Between 1985 to 1989 she attended the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

. After spending 1990 to 1994 at UCLA, she briefly left academia to become

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of ''Sonic Boom Inc.'' until 1996. Since 1996, she has held a faculty position at

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

. K.K. Hallmark^{'' ho is this?'} describes her work as, "Tanaka's videos are documentary in style, using a variety of techniques; some images are abstract, distorted, and blurred to an unrecognizable degree, while others are clear and informal, as if they could be a family snapshot."

Select videography

Hghlights from Tanaka's work: * ''Swimming in Air,'' 2006, 28:10 minutes, color/B&W, English * ''No Hop Sing, No Bruce Lee''; What do you do when none of your heroes look like you?, 1998, 31:56 minutes, color/B&W, English * ''Who's Going to Pay for These Donuts Anyway''?, 1992, 58:30 minutes, color/B&W, English * ''Memories From the Department of Amnesia,'' 1990, 12:50 minutes, color/B&W, English * ''The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle'', 1989, 17:50 minutes, color/B&W, English * ''Grass or When the Rain Falls on the Water Does The Fish Get Any Wetter''?, 1985, 05:30 minutes, color, English * ''Superhuman Flights of Submoronic Fancies,'' 1982, 11:00 minutes, color, English * ''Ontogenesis, 1981, 05:30 minutes'', color/B&W, English * ''A True-Life Adventure in Beaver Valley'', 1980, 05:30 minutes, color/B&W, English

Permanent collections

Tanaka has pieces in the collections of many museums and libraries. *

Kröller-Müller Museum The Kröller-Müller Museum () is a national art museum and sculpture garden, located in the Hoge Veluwe National Park in Otterlo in the Netherlands. The museum, founded by art collector Helene Kröller-Müller within the extensive grounds of ...

Carnegie Museum of Art The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland (Pittsburgh), Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located ...

The Getty The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States, housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. It is operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, the world's wealthiest a ...

* The Japanese American National Museum California * The Institute of Kino Engineers (St. Petersburg, Russia) *

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

The New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

* The University of Southern California *

University of California Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Awards

Tanaka has received many awards: * The American Film Institute Media Award * The National Endowment for the Arts Media Award * The Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Public Broadcasting Systems Media Awards * Rockefeller Foundation Media Fellowship (1991 and 2003)

References

External links

Archive Grid
(Tanaka's works held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies). {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Janice American artists of Japanese descent Japanese-American internees Women video artists School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni