Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik
Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik is an artist, writer, and educator who uses art as a strategy to connect memory and history with the urgent social issues of our time. Her work focuses on decolonization, the hierarchy of the senses, and the impact of migration. Raised in Los Angeles, Tongva Land, and based in Oakland, Ohlone Land, she is Indian and Japanese Colombian American. Sita holds a BA in Studio Art from Scripps College, an MFA in interdisciplinary art and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts.
Updated February 2020
Stories from This Author
Pilgrimage to former internment camp reveals untold story of Japanese Latin American incarceration
Feb. 21, 2020 • Sita Kuratomi Bhaumik
It was only a few years ago that I heard the term “Japanese Latin American” (JLA). This is perhaps only surprising because I am one. But until that moment, I didn’t understand how our histories intersected across the Americas because of Japanese immigration and U.S. policy. I certainly never thought that a shared legacy would bring me to rural Texas. During World War II, people of Japanese, German, Italian, and Indonesian descent were incarcerated at the Crystal City Alien Enemy …