TRANSCENDIENTS: Immigrant Stories of Place is a community-driven traveling art exhibit by Terasaki Exhibitions. The contemporary pop-up exhibit showcases the unique immigrant communities and immigration history specific to each city it travels to through technology-based storytelling, contemporary portraiture,  and immersive experiences.

“I am a descendant of immigrants. My parents were interned in the Japanese Relocation Camps during World War II. It is acutely painful for me to see echoes of history in current times. American policy makers are mistreating refugees and economic migrants that endure great challenges to flee violence, poverty, injustice, and brutality in their home countries. We need to do more to embrace diversity and pluralistic democracy. I want to invite our community to celebrate and poetically hold space for the many immigrants that make up who we are as a nation”

- Taiji Terasaki, Executive Director & Artist at Terasaki Exhibitions

CONTENT
TRANSCENDIENTS: Immigrant Stories of Place is highly dependent on community participation. That is why we are asking for the community to share their immigration stories (along with a portrait) through our website. The stories and portraits received will become the foundation for the artwork. Portraits will be projected and re-photographed through vapor to create contemporary works of art to be showcased within the installation. Audio-accounts of stories will also be captured to create 3D soundscapes to create a truly immersive experience. Do you or someone you know have a moving story of immigration to the United States? Share your story and portrait by clicking the button below or link to the left.

EXPERIENCE
As a visitor travels through the larger-than-life public installation, they will be immersed in various immigrant experiences. One portion of the installation will feature community-submitted portraits of immigrants printed on overhead “light forms” as well as projected on ceiling-high walls of vapor. Driving home the point that we are a nation of immigrants, an interactive structure will encourage community participation with staff live-photographing portraits then projecting visitor portraits onto vapor and/or screens in real-time. In a third portion, stories of immigrants will be given voice through and immersive soundscape.

TERASAKI EXHIBITIONS
Terasaki Exhibitions is a 501c3 non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire global change through art. Terasaki Exhibitions promotes cultural and environmental conservation, preservation, and restoration; bringing awareness to related issues through traveling contemporary art exhibitions that engage, educate, and empower through innovative and immersive content and experiences. It is through these publicly accessible and impactful modes of expression that TEx offers a gem of hope that humankind is in fact capable of being wise and visionary stewards for environmental and cultural challenges future generations will come to inherit. Terasaki Exhibitions strives to inspire contemplation, spark reaction, and catalyze action.