Unknown Memories of the Difficult-to-Return-to-Zone, 2025
Echoes of the Floating World, curated by Kenji Stoll
Blades of Change
Nuclear industrial fan blade (fiberglass), paper, ink
Tacoma Art Museum, Februrary 2025- January 2026
Artist Statement
Unknown Memories of the Difficult-to-Return-to-Zone investigates the disconnect the artist feels from her ancestral homeland, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, due to the catastrophic nuclear disaster there in 2011. Over 90 feet of hand-cut paper Memory Net trap symbolic objects important to Iida’s identity, weaving and cradling two nuclear industrial fan blades.
About the Artist
Lauren Iida’s artworks are an ongoing investigation into her own Japanese American heritage and the lasting intergenerational trauma resulting from the unjust incarceration of her ancestors during World War II.
Through her paper-cut art practice, Iida brings new life to historical photos, amplifies forgotten stories, and draws connections between the injustices of her past and those presently being faced in her local and global community.