New exhibit fosters cultural awareness

The Mathers Museum has taken a step toward fulfilling its goal of increasing its audience's understanding of world cultures with its latest exhibit, "Japan-in-America: The Turn of the Twentieth Century."\n"This exhibit shows how different cultures interact, mingle and respond to different ethnicities," said Judy Kirk, assistant director of the museum. "It helps to illustrate how complex people's responses are to other cultures." \nAlthough it's hosted by the Mathers Museum, the exhibit was put together by IU Department of Communication and Culture chair Greg Waller. The exhibit displays a vast number of images and artifacts depicting Japan that circulated the United States at the turn of the 20th century with the purpose of showing the audience the complex and multi-faceted history during this time period, Waller said.\n"This exhibit is a more complicated way of thinking about history," he said. "It is very visual and helps to show that the history of this time \nperiod is quite complex."\nWaller said the exhibit is a deeper look at the cultural history of the period. At the turn of the 20th century, the United States expanded into the Pacific and quickly became aware of Japan's modernization, as well as its emerging role as a geopolitical power. It was difficult for Americans at the time to neglect Japan's military successes, rapid modernization and emergence as a global power. Americans were both captivated and terrified by this success, according to a statement Waller made for the Mathers Museum Web site.\n"It seems throughout history there has always been this complex relationship between people who are not 'us,' and this exhibit does a good job of examining these contemporary clashes between America and Japan," Kirk said. \n"Japan-in-America" explores both the Japanophilia and Japanophobia felt by American citizens, as well as various historical events, public opinion campaigns, war scares and the negative and positive stereotypes of the Japanese through a wide range of artifacts from popular culture during the turn of the century, according to the Mathers Museum Web site. "Japan-in-America" houses paintings, poetry, travel literature, as well as postcards, illustrated books, sheet music, magic lantern slides, editorial cartoons, motion pictures, missionary tracts, children's literature and advertisements.\n"These images are not high art; they are mass-produced art for postcards and magazine covers," Wallace said. "But they, too, are a part of history. This (exhibit) is not about what elected officials had to say about Japan at the time but how American citizens viewed Japan."\nSophia Travis, president of Monroe County Council, said she especially enjoyed the American cartoons' portrayal of the Japanese occupation in Korea from 1910 to 1945. For her, the cartoons and exhibit did a good job of putting America's history into context during the turn of the century.\n"It is important not to forget about the past because without it there can be no future," Travis said.\n"Japan-In-America: The Turn of the Twentieth Century" will be on display at the Mathers Museum through Dec. 22. The Mathers Museum is located at 416 N. Indiana Ave. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.indiana.edu/~mathers/.