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KIDS ROCKWELL Art Lab is open Thursday – Monday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Plan your visit

Devan Shimoyama: Untitled (For Tamir)

From February 11, 2023 to May 14, 2023

Location: Spotlight Gallery (Floor 1M)

Untitled (for Tamir) presents a somber moment of reality while still embodying the dreamlike, colorful and mystical visual language that has come to define Devan Shimoyama’s work.

Devan Shimoyama, Untitled (For Tamir), 2019, detail.

Colorfully adorned swingset

Devan Shimoyama, Untitled (For Tamir), 2019

Listen up!

This exhibition includes audio engagement as part of the Artists as Activists audio tour, narrated by Sharon Bryant. Visitors to the Museum can access the tour using their own mobile devices, or borrow a GuideID listening device at the Admission desk.

Sharon Bryant is associate professor at the Decker College of health sciences at Binghamton University, and ongoing partner with The Rockwell Museum’s Artists as Activists program.

Click to Listen
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About the Artist

Devan Shimoyama in his Pittsburgh studio. Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta. Photographer: Zac Riggelman.

Devan Shimoyama

Born in 1989, Shimoyama’s adult life has been marked by these extremely public lynchings of Black adults and children. At least 135 unarmed Black people were killed by police between 2015 and the end of 2020 alone. Seeking a way to process this collective trauma and remember the individual life that was lost, Shimoyama showers Tamir in flowers, surrounded by glittering teardrops. He creates an “anchor to reality without [presenting Black bodies in pain].” By creating this permanent memorial, Shimoyama creates a place away from the site itself where we can continue to pay tribute to Tamir nearly a decade after this event.

Special Thanks

This exhibition is supported by the Community Foundation of Elmira-Corning and the Finger Lakes, Inc.