Projects of Art Ethnography

This exhibition brings together the works of Lydia Nakashima Degarrod and Susan Ossman, two artist-anthropologists whose practices blur the boundaries between scholarship and art. Moving between ethnographic research and visual expression, their projects invite reflection on migration, memory, identity, and how knowledge takes shape across bodies, materials, and stories.

The exhibition unfolds in six sections, each anchored by a distinct project. Nakashima Degarrod’s “Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls” traces the migration of Japanese communities to Latin America through handmade paper, printing, and embroidery, while “Atlas of Dreams” transforms interviews and dérive into paintings that “unveil the invisible.” In “Asian Eyes”, she explores ethnicity and embodiment through intimate portraits of women’s eyes and recorded voices.

Ossman presents large paintings of laundry on the line, showing how ethnography shapes her palette and encourages collaboration around ecological, gender, and social aspects of washing clothes. In contrast, “Sources”, a painting on organza, emerges from The Moving Matters Traveling Workshop, which explores migration through site-specific events. “Bibliography” and “Spazieren Gehen” make the materials and gestures of scholarship themselves the focus of study.

Together, these works create a space where imagination, intellect, and emotion intersect. Visitors encounter not only finished artworks but also traces of their making—interviews, documentation, and collaborative processes—highlighting the possibilities of combining ethnography and art.