Defiant Vision: Prints & Poetry by Munio Makuuchi

Smith College Museum of Art (20 Elm Street at Bedford Terrace, Northampton MA 01063)

Art

Featuring more than 50 prints and examples of his poetry, this museum exhibition is the first to focus on the work of Munio Makuuchi (born Howard Takahashi, 1934-2000) and serves as a reclamation of the artist’s visual and literary contributions. The son of a Japanese-born father and American-born mother, Makuuchi and his family were confined in an incarceration camp for Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945. The Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho was one of ten facilities designed to contain over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast during World War II. This pivotal experience was a catalyst for Makuuchi’s art as well as his rootless existence.