Monday, June 1, 2026 at 12:00 AM to Tuesday, June 1, 2027 at 11:59 PM
18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica
**Archeology of Motherhood (jute fiber, 1978)** **June 1, 2026 - June 1, 2027** [**18th Street Arts Center**](https://18thstreet.org/venue/18th-street-arts-center/) Recently discovered bundled in storage under Nagano's Silverlake home, these weavings were components of a larger installation piece displayed in the "Magical Mystery Tour" exhibition at Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Art Park in 1978. It is believed that Nagano had begun to deconstruct the piece before putting it in storage almost half a century ago. Here, it has been improvisationally re-assembled by her son. **Artist Bio** Born and raised in Los Angeles, Momo Nagano was incarcerated at Manzanar Relocation Center in April 1942 with her mother and two brothers while her father Kiro Nagano, designated a “dangerous enemy alien”, was held in various military prison facilities. In 1943 after the government had administered the infamous “loyalty questionnaire”, Nisei young adults were granted permission to leave camp and enroll in colleges away from the West Coast. Momo was accepted at Wheaton, a women's college in Norton, Massachusetts. Arriving in February of 1944 Nagano was not only the sole Japanese American on campus; after her first semester she was the only student of color. During the war she returned to camp each summer to be re-incarcerated until Fall semester. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in History in 1947, but Nagano’s true calling would lie in the creative arts. In the early 1960s after pursuing ceramics for a few years, she fell in love with the art of weaving which would be her passion for the next four decades. Today her weavings are included in collections of the California State Senate Contemporary Art Collection, Manzanar National Historic Site, the Japanese American National Museum, as well as numerous private and corporate collections. In 2007 Wheaton honored her with their annual Alumni Achievement Award, nominated by her Class of 1947 mates at their 50th reunion. After Momo passed away in 2010, a tree was planted on campus in her memory, also gifted by her classmates. In 2022 she was posthumously awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree by Wheaton. As a parent, Momo made creativity a regular part of life for her children, and by doing so passed on her love of art-making to the next generation.