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

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degree in 1981 from the

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. 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 charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

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

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

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. After being diagnosed with

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, 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

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. 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. Tanaka has taught^{'' aught what?'} at universities around the country. After receiving her graduate degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she headed to the

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

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. Between 1985-1989 she attended the

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

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of ''Sonic Boom Inc.'' until 1996. Beginning in 1996 and continuing through today (2022) holds a position at the California Institute of the Arts. 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 *

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

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* The University of Southern California * University of California Los Angeles *

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University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

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