Joan Takayama-Ogawa

California’s Role: Sushi America's Fast Food, 2010

4"H x 14" W x 5" D, Ceramics, Plastic Flies

Private Collection

Sushi, America’s new fast food, allows Japanese cuisine and culture accessible to Americans and an opportunity to make economic commentary. As food transmits culture, I hope American Anti-Asian sentiment declines.

Ceramic sushi depicts California’s role in the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Sushi ingredients of over-leveraged banks and houses sink under the strain of subprime mortgages. The government tarp program in Tamago (egg) sushi added billions of dollars to stabilize our economy while increasing the national debt. The reset of mortgages caused residential foreclosures. The California gold coast became vulnerable to fires and floods.

We kept pumping fossil fuels. Nature’s invoice will be high.