Audrey Chan

Little Tokyo Stance, located at the Brunswig Square storefront, is a figurative homage to generations of Japanese Americans who have loved and labored on behalf of their historic community: the first generation Issei pioneers who came to Los Angeles and established livelihoods, raising families and building local economies; the artists who reclaim folk traditions as a vital act of resistance to the erasure of cultural difference; and the Asian American activists, for whom community organizing is a form of stewardship of past generations’ labor and sacrifice. Framing the figure grouping are two trees that continue to stand and bear witness to more than a century of history: the Aoyama Tree at the former site of Koyasan Daishi Mission and the Wolfskill Orchard grapefruit tree that continues to bear fruit. Passersby are invited to consider what taking a stance means at this moment in Little Tokyo’s history.