Major and Minor Transnationalism in Yoko Inoue’s Art

Abstract

This article elucidates major transnationalism and minor transnationalism through an analysis of works by New York-based Japanese artist Yoko Inoue (b. 1964). Inoue engages in social criticism through varied media such as ceramics, installations, and performance art. Her works demonstrate minor transnationalism observed in the relationships she has built with other transmigrants and minoritized individuals over such issues as xenophobia and racism after 9/11, as well as Hiroshima/Nagasaki and related contemporary nuclear issues. Inoue also addresses the disparities in collective memory and narratives between Japan and the US plus socio-economic inequalities between nation-states and the movement of people/goods/money within Trans-Pacific power dynamics, all of which illustrate major transnationalism in the Trans-Pacific.