WENDY MARUYAMA

E.O. 9066 Series*

The E.O. 9066 Series, 2012 explores Maruyama’s Japanese American heritage though the forced evacuation of her maternal grandparents from their home in California, and addressed the shared emotional loss suffered by the Japanese American community in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. She says, “This chapter in my family history was heavily veiled. Because of this, I avoided any association with this connection—partially out of suppressed anger, partially out of just wanting to move forward.” However, in the fall of 2008 Maruyama was awarded an artist–in–residency opportunity at SUNY Purchase and during this time she immersed herself in research and historical investigation of Executive Order 9066. Out of this research came the E.O. 9066 Series which includes the Tag Series.

*On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt, issued Executive Order 9066 which authorized the incarceration of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan.