Yet another idea for my project...

While trying to create an assignment which aligned with my personal projects in Lithography, I wanted to continue with an idea that began with relief printmaking last quarter, which was creating prints from the old photographs I have acquired over time. This was the color reduction print I created last quarter of my great grandfather Kiyoshi:

So, naturally I wanted to continue with his wife, Sae. I was looking through my collection of photographs when I found this photo of her with my great aunts and grandfather as children:

I was immediately struck by the Persian style rug used as a backdrop. First, I simply wondered where they were and why they chose to take a family picture in front of it-- then I began to contemplate the object itself. As an item clearly not from American origin, I wondered where the distinction between the imported object and the immigrant person lies. The object is welcomed as long as it can commodified and sold as a foreign object, it never crosses the line into our culture-- it can only be appropriated and used when desired. At the same time, the immigrant does not receive such a warm greeting because it is feared that they are not only invading the culture, but eventually becoming a part of it and changing the landscape of what people consider to be the "norm."

I feel this idea has a lot of potential and I am currently working on a lithograph featuring a portrait of my great grandmother paired with a rendition of a woman in an ukiyo'e style print which became a highly sought after import in the late 19th century. This is to begin my exploration of the subject, but I hope to elaborate upon this idea and extend it to my work with Plexiglas. 

Also, Kristina gave me a few artists to look at today in Lithography: Carrie May Weems and Nicole Pietrantoni.