LAUREN IIDA
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"Five Points Merchants" 
Japanese Arts Network Commission for Denver Theatre District 
Denver, Colorado, USA 
Installed August 2021

Picture
Picture
Picture
“Five Points Merchants, 1950s” (2021)
Lauren Iida 
Hand-cut paper, watercolor
Billboard: 37.4 x 100 feet (11.4 x 30.5 meters)
Made possible by Japanese Arts Network & Denver Theatre District
Original photo supplied by Mary Jane Okatsu 
Photo & drone by Third Dune Productions
​

“For this new work, I was very inspired by this photo provided to me by the Japanese Arts Network of a desegregated youth baseball team, the Five Points Merchants, in Denver, taken in the 1950s. I was fascinated by the team and the historical significance of seeing African American, Latinx, and Japanese teens playing together at this time; pre-civil rights movement, just after the WWII concentration camps for people of Japanese ancestry had been emptied. The team members look so relaxed and joyful, each with their own unique expressions, and I was very pleased to have access to this beautiful photo as inspiration for my piece. I decided to depict the team members in black and white, in their team jerseys and hats with their gear, as the photo was in black and white and then add color emanating into the background. I worked with Courtney Ozaki, Creative Producer of the Japanese Arts Network, to choose some plant life important to the region and created a cut paper tapestry. I chose Colorado Blue Columbine, the official state flower, and Matsutake mushrooms, a species prevalent to the region and important to the Japanese American community.
Thank you Japanese Arts Network and Denver Theatre District for this opportunity.”
All Images Copyright Lauren Iida © 2022
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Series
    • Memory Net
    • Anticipation/Paris
    • Citizen's Indefinite Leave
    • 32 Aspects of Daily Life
    • 100 Aspects of the Moon
  • Projects
    • Meta Paper Cut Mural
    • Contemporary Cambodian Art
    • Burke Museum Residency
    • Denver Night Lights/Ukraine
    • Redmond Sound Transit
    • Seattle Storm Signal Box
    • Nuclear Sculpture
    • Densho Memory Net of Remembrance
    • Plymouth Housing Mural, Seattle
    • Federal Way Sound Transit Mural
    • Denver Billboard
    • 2nd Ave Sign Project
    • Factory Phnom Penh
    • Densho Artist-in-Residence
    • Oneness for Cornish
    • Tsuru for Solidarity
    • City of Bellevue Portable Art Collection
    • Washington State Arts Commission
    • Siem Reap, Cambodia Public Installation
    • "Public Art Comes to Your Front Yard"
    • "Shoreline Banners" Public Art
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Press