Dr. Allyson Brantley and Kyoco Taniyama
The West Gallery is excited to present An Artful Reframing: Expanding Our ULV Story through an Inclusive Voice. An Artful Reframing is a collaborative effort among ULV researchers and acclaimed artists to present a more inclusive understanding of ULV’s history, heritage and identity, critically engaging our Church of the Brethren history, reckoning honestly with our predominantly white history, and highlighting stories that give shape to our diverse, multicultural and Hispanic Serving identity. An Artful Reframing brings together academic essays and artistic expressions that reframe our history and heritage, expand our understanding of who we are, and provide new possibilities for our institutional identity, vision, and future becoming.
Throughout the 2022-23 academic year, the West Gallery will feature multiple researchers and artists who have contributed to An Artful Reframing. Our first exhibition features Dr. Allyson Brantley, Associate Professor of History, and artist Kyoco Taniyama.
Dr. Brantley’s research project is entitled “Which Roads Lead to an HSI? The Palomares Colonia, Demographic Shifts, & the Transformation of the University of La Verne.” As Dr. Brantley explains, “Institutional narratives at the University of La Verne often cast its Brethren founders as an “old tribe” of immigrants, paving the way for a newer group of Hispanic and Latinx immigrants and their descendants. As though pre-ordained, Brethren values have given way to a 21st-century Hispanic-Serving Institution. This project seeks to historicize these narratives to better understand the socio-cultural, political, and regional developments that accompanied the University of La Verne’s transformation into an HSI by 2014.”
Kyoco Taniyama’s sculpture is an homage to citrus industry workers in the region surrounding the University of La Verne. For Taniyama emotions, knowledge, and experiences translate into praise, reverence, and gratitude for one’s ancestors. Her research recognizes and celebrates the identities of people who made sacrifices to improve the quality for future generations, benefiting all nationalities and genders. Her sculpture – composed of artist-created crates, historic map imagery, and a gramophone record player – embraces inclusion and universality.
Taniyama writes, “Living in Berlin as an immigrant, I am very aware of my identity as an Asian woman. This is why I want to bring “light” to our daily life (surroundings) with artistic activities.”