Lydia Nakashima Degarrod, Ph.D.
California College of the Arts
Critical Studies
Place of Birth: Concepcion, Chile
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Anthropology. University of California at Los Angeles.
M.A. Folklore and Mythology. University of California at Los Angeles
M.A. Spanish Literature. University of Hawaii
B.F.A. University of Hawaii
Artists Residencies
Artist in Residence. Blue Mountain Center. Blue Mountain Lake, NY, September 2025.
Artist in Residence. Virginia Center for Creative Arts. Amherst, Virginia, Fall 2024.
Fellow and Artist in Residence. Women’s International Study Center. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Fall 2023.
Artist in Residence. Inaugural Virginia Tech Residency for Improvisation, Inspiration, Incubation, and Immersion. Institute for Arts, Creativity and Technology. Virginia Tech University, VA. July 11-18, 2022.
Artist in Residence. Kala Art Institute. Berkeley, CA. March 1-May 20, 2020.
Artist in Residence. Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Woodside, CA. June 19-July 24, 2019.
Artist in Residence. De Young Museum of Art. San Francisco, California. January 6-February1, 2009.
Artist in Residence. Center for Art and Public Life. California College of the Arts. 2007-8.
ART AWARDS
Juror’s Award. 33rd Annual International Contemporary Craft Competition & Exhibition. Materials Hard+Soft, Texas. 2/7-5/ 9, 2020.
California Story Fund. California Council for the Humanities, 2007-8.
Chilean Government Sponsorship, Ministry of Culture, Chile, 1999-2000.
Latin American Art Award, Saint John’s University, 1996
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Projects of Art and Ethnography. Project Gallery. NYU Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi. November 6-December 7, 2025.
Our Eyes in a Fragmented World. Monterey Museum of Art. Monterey, CA. June 13- August 24, 2025.
Atlas de Sueños. Universidad Alberto Hurtado. Santiago, Chile, 11/ 28-12/ 14, 2018.
Geographies of the Imagination. Valene Smith Museum. California State University, Chico, 8/28-9/30, 2013.
Geographies of the Imagination. Oliver Art Center. California College of the Arts. 9/ 29-November 26, 2008.
Emerging Images of Humanity, Eranos Foundation. Ascona, Switzerland, 8/ 5- 12/1, 2007.
Heavens of the Imagination, David Rockefeller Center Gallery, Harvard University, March 9-June 15, 1999.
Heavens of the Imagination. Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, CA, November 12-December 11, 1998.
Imaging the Land of Goodness and Beauty: Paintings of Mapuche Dreams of Heaven. Center for Latin American Studies. University of California at Berkeley, November 3-January 31, 1999.
Landscapes of Terror, Dreams and Loneliness. University of Virginia, Charlottesville, April 12-30, 1995.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITS
Travelling Exhibits
Mending the Past. Resilience—A Sansei Sense of Legacy. Exhibits USA (2022-2027).
https://eusa.org/exhibition/resilience-a-sansei-sense-of-legacy/
Alice Sabatini Gallery, Topeka, KS. March 9- May 28, 2022.
Japanese American Museum of Oregon, Portland, OR. October 1-December 22, 2022.
The Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA. January 10-July 7, 2023.
International Museum of Art Science. McAllen, TX. August 7-January 14, 2024
Rockwell Museum, Corning, NY. February 19-May 3, 2024.
University of Reno, Nevada, Reno, NV. September 9-November 15, 2024
Illinois Holocaust Museum, Stokie, IL. December 13, 2024-May 31, 2025.
Misericordia University, Dallas, PA. October 6-December 15, 2025.
Group Exhibits
Eroded Worlds. Unraveling Habitats. Visions Museum of Textile Art. San Diego, CA. Jan 30-May 22, 2027.
Brown Palms, Yellow Balms. Asian American Women Artists Association. SomArts, San Francisco, CA. April 25- May 25, 2025.
Texture: Proof of Presence. Pacific Grove Library Art Gallery. October 4, 2024-January 4, 2025.
Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls. Here Now: Art and Migration. Burlington City Art Center, Burlington,Vermont. February 9 –May 11, 2024.
Wide-Open Asian Eyes. Narrative Portraiture. William Blizard Gallery. Springfield College, Springfield, MA.September 8-October 8, 2023.
Wide-Open Asian Eyes. Jade Wave Rising. Asian American Women Artists Association. SomArts. April 27-May 21, 2023.
Family Memories of Forced Migration. Kala Art Institute. Berkeley, CA. October 20, 2022-January 13,2023.
Flowers of Memory, Family and Forced Dispersal. On the Move: Migration/Emigration/Immigration. Gualala Art Center. Gualala, CA. October 7-November 20, 2022.
Mending the Past II. Brand 50. Works on Paper. Brand Library and Art Center. Glendale, CA. September 24-December 30, 2022.
Scattered Seeds of the Cotton Bolls. Shadows of the Past. Monterey Museum of Art, September 9, 2021-February 9, 2022.
Conquering California Poppies: Landscapes of Healing, Beauty, and Ecological Invasion. Sowing Agency: Seeding the Future for Environmental Justice. Asian American Women Artists Association. April 30-May23, 2021.
Mending the Past. The De Young Open. De Young Museum, San Francisco, 10/10, 2020-1/3/2021.
Mending the Past. 33rd Annual International Contemporary Craft Competition & Exhibition. Materials Hard+Soft. Texas. 2/7-5/ 9, 2020.
Mending the Past. Agrarianaa. AAWAA. SomArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA. May 2-23, 2019.
Collaborative Installation: Hallucinatory Ethnography. Francisco Prat Puig Cultural Center, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. 5/15-18, 2018.
Visiting My Old House. Moving Matters: Serial Migrants, Art and Identity Exhibit. University of California, Riverside. March 10-30, 2016.
Intersections: Asian American Narratives. Lindsay Dirx Brown Gallery. San Ramon, February 2-28, 2015.
Hybridity. SomArts Cultural Center. San Francisco, February 5-25 2009.
A Place of Your Own. Kimball Gallery. De Young Museum. January 30, 2009.
Exonome: IberoAmerican Art Exhibit. Mexican Consulate of San Francisco. November 18-December 18, 2008.
Cheers to Muses, Asian American Women Artists Exhibit. San Francisco Chinese Cultural Center, June 1-
August 25, 2007. San Francisco, California.
Video Installation. Swarm Gallery, May 12-June 30, 2007.
CURATORIAL WORK
Topaz Refracted: Historical Truths, Contemporary Visions, and Japanese American Experience. Southern Utah Museum of Art. Cedar City, Utah. May 29-September 25, 2028
Under the Guard Tower: The Watercolor of Chikaji Kawakami. Southern Utah Museum of Art, Cedar City, Utah. May 29-September 25, 2028.
Under the Guard Tower: The Watercolor of Chikaji Kawakami. California College of the Arts. San Francisco, CA. April 1-May 30, 2026.
Belle Yang and Joseph Yang: Imagining China. Monterey Museum of Art. September 13-December 13, 2024.
Under the Guard Tower: The Watercolor of Chikaji Kawakami. Monterey Museum of Art. August 24-December 15, 2024.
Awakening the Worlds of Objects and Nature. Ruth’s Table, San Francisco, CA. Jan 13-April 13,
The Living Past: Innovating Tradition in the Arts. California Institute of Integral Studies, October 28- Jan 9, 2011.
Services
Advisor, Re-History, Asian Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA, June 2022- May 2023
Advisor, Advisory Board, Asian American Women Artists Association (2010 to present).
Advisor, The State of the Arts Symposium, Monterey Museum of Art, California, 2021-22
Panelist Reviewer
Djerassi Artists Program, Artists Residencies, 2021
California Council for the Arts, Individual Artists Fellowships, 2021. City of Oakland, CA Public Art Grants Review Panelist, 2005.
City of Oakland, Individual Artist Grants Review, 2003.
Art Reviews of my work
Ruff, John. “Resilience: A Sansei Sense of Legacy, curated by Gail Enns and Jerry Takigawa.” Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas 10 (2024) 187–223.
Artscope Online. March/April 2024. No Place Like Home: Displaced Artists Try to Connect in Burlington Show. https://artscopemagazine.com/2024/03/no-place-like-home-displaced-artists-try-to-connect-in-burlington-show/
Polston, Pamela. Seven Days. Vermont’s Independent Voice. A Group Exhibition at BCA Center Explores the Meaning of Migration. March 20, 2024. https://www.sevendaysvt.com/arts-culture/a-group-exhibition-at-bca-center-explores-the-meanings-of-migration-40470920
KQED Arts: http://www.kqed.org/arts/visualarts/article.jsp?essid=23661
Publications
Selected Book Chapters and Journal Articles about Art
2025. Imagining and Embodying Dreams in Art and in Anthropology. In Matthew Newsom (Editor) Dreaming and the Imagination. New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 144-163.
2024. Creating and art installation of family memories of displacement and forced migration. Visual Ethnography, Vol 13: 2.
2021. Pauses and Flow in Art Making and Ethnographic Research. Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 11:3,1101-1115.
2018. Activating and Performing Nostalgia at Places of Sorrowful Exile. Visual Ethnography, Vol. 7:1, pages 34-51.
2017. Atlas of Dreams: Unveiling the Invisible in San Francisco Bay Area. Visual Anthropology Review. Spring.
2016. Collaborative Art and the Emergence and Development of Ethnographic Knowledge and
Empathy. Special Issue: Art, Ethnography and Practice-led Research. Critical Arts 30 (3) 322-340.
2016. Exile, the Sorrow of Time and Place. In Rupert Cox, Andrew Irving, and Christopher Wright (Editors).
Beyond Text? Critical Practices and Sensory Anthropology. Manchester University Press.
2013. Making the Unfamiliar Personal: Arts Based Ethnographies as Public Engaged Ethnographies. Public Ethnography Special Issue. Qualitative Research 13 (4) 402-413.
2012. Geographies of the Imagination: Engaging Audiences and Participants in Collaborative Interdisciplinary Gallery Installations. In Phillip Vannini (Editor). Popularizing Research. New York: Peter Lang Press, pp. 74-79.
2011. Searching for Catalyst and Empowerment: The Asian American Women Artists Association. In Jill Fields (Editor). Entering the Picture: Judy Chicago, The Fresno Feminist Art Program, and the Collective Visions of Women Artists. London: Routledge Press, pp. 241-256.
2010. Using Art in Ethnographic Research and Representation: An Emergence of Images and Knowledge. In Riccardo Bernardini and John van Praag (Editors). Eranos Yearbook 2006/2007/2008, Eranos Foundation. Ascona Switzerland: Daimon Verlag, pp. 173-191
2010. When Ethnographies Enter Galleries. In Sandra Dudley (Editor). Museum Materialities: Objects,
Engagements, Interpretations. London: Routledge Press, pp.128-142.
2007. Paintings as Ethnographic Representation. The International Journal of Arts in Society, Volume 1, Issue 7, pp. 147-156. International Award for Excellence in the Area of Art
1998. Landscapes of Terror, Dreams, and Loneliness: Explorations in Art, Ethnography, and Friendship. New Literary History, pp. 699-726.
SELECTED CONFERENCE
AND INVITED PRESENTATIONS
Annual Bourguignon Lecture. Art and Anthropology. Wexler Art Center. Ohio State University. April 22, 2027.
Surrealist Techniques Workshop. Dreaming as Relation, Method, and Forms of Life. Wenner-Gren Workshop. UC Davis. May 29-30, 2025.
Discussant. Adjacencies and Synergies: Creative Praxis at the Center and Margins of Ethnography Roundtable. American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings. April 25, 2024.
Convener, State of the Arts Symposium, Monterey Museum of Art, February 6, 2022.
Organizer and Co-Chair with Susan Ossman. Feminism, Art, Global Action Panel. Women Caucus for the Art. June 11, 2022.
Embodied Experiences and Memories of Forced Migration. In Feminism, Art, Global Action, Co-Chairs Lydia Nakashima Degarrod and Susan Ossman. Women Caucus for Art Annual Conference. June 11, 2022 (online).
Walking and Mapping in the Search for Memorable Dreams. In Moving Subjects /Making Cities. American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings, San Jose, California. November 16, 2018.
In the Search for Memorable Dreams. Contemporary Ethnography Across Disciplines Conference.
Santiago, Chile. November 20-23, 2018.
Dreams, Art Making and Ethnography. In Art, Dreams and Miracles: Reflections and Representations. Royal Anthropological Institute Conference. London, UK. June 1-3, 2018.Parallels Between Ethnographic Communication and Collaborative Art Creation. In Visual Arts: Moving
Towards Ethnographic Hallucinations, Chair and organizer. Canadian Anthropology Society Annual Meeting, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. May 16-20, 2018.
Shifting Spectra, Broadening Boundaries: Working Between Ethnography and Visual Art. Keynote Speaker. International Community Artists Scholars Conference. San Francisco, CA. January 20, 2018.
Actionable Art, Artists and Art Administrators. Northern California Women Caucus for the Arts, Djerassi
Foundation. September 3, 2017.
Cartography of Urban Dreams and Shamanic Dreams of Beauty. International Conference on Shamanism
Healing and Transformation. Santa Sabina Center, San Rafael, CA. September 2-5, 2016.
Ethnography and Art. Institute of Social Sciences. University of Lisbon, Portugal. June 6, 2016.
Unveiling Dreams and Nostalgia in the Urbanscape: Imagination as a Social Activity. In Ethnography-Based Art Practices. University of Combria, Portugal. June 2-4, 2016.
Ethnographic Research and Collaborative Art Making. Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous. University of San Francisco, May 9, 2016.
Nostalgia, Art, and the Serial Migrant. Serial Migrants and Identity/ The Arts of Migration Conference. UC Riverside. March 10, 2016.
Hanging Out Exhibit. Panelist. UC Riverside. March 12, 2015.
Paintings, Drawings, and Monoprints in the Creation and Display of Ethnographic Research. In Drawing and Painting in the Production of Anthropological Knowledge. American Anthropological Association Meetings, Washington DC. December 6, 2014.
Creating Knowledge at the Boundaries of Art and Ethnography. In Visual Artists and Anthropologists:
Collaboration, Appropriation, Methodology. American Anthropological Association Meetings. San Francisco, CA. November 16, 2012.
Press Interviews
Television: Univision, Al Despertar, February 11, 2009 Radio: KUSF-FM, Art Talk, February 4, 2009.
Radio: KPOO-FM, January 29, 2009
Radio: KPFA, January 24, 2009
Radio: KLAX, January 24, 2009.
Television: Univision, December 11, 2008. Television: NBC, December 7,
2008 Newspaper: Vision Hispana, December 6, 2008 Radio: Utah Public Radio, February 6, 2004