This is the first book to fully explore the essential role of women artists of Japan and its diaspora in the global postwar era. Learning from their personal lives, transnational activisms, and visual politics, the book contextualises the role of the artists within the global avant-garde and the impact of changes within Japanese society and beyond. Creating alliances while experiencing profound isolations, the radical approach of these artists to materials and process responded to the changing socioeconomic landscapes from an era of remarkable transformation. Some of the artists included in this survey are quite familiar to us today, while others have been forgotten. Looking at dynamic cultural exchanges and the forgotten margins of modernism, this wide-ranging exploration offers an unprecedented opportunity to experience the new modes of artistic expression that emerged in post-war Japan and its diaspora in Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America. The survey features 38 artists from Ruth Asawa to Atsuko Tanaka, and contains multiple texts on themes including education and the Women s Artists Association, feminism, Fluxus, and Gutai, featuring new essays from three generations of Japanese scholars, alongside texts from the exhibititon curators and an extensive chronology. Illustrated throughout, Kaiho (which means breaking free ) begins with an insightful new essay by the exhibition curator Florence Ostende and is a stunningly designed celebration of Japanese visual culture and legacy.
