Paper short abstract:

This paper attempts to elucidate the triple subjugation of Ryukyun/Okinawan art, the importance of forgotten modern Okinawan paintings, and the 'identity movement' in local and global perspectives by post-war artists and contemporary Okinawan artists who are challenging Decolonisation.

Paper long abstract:

Decolonisation is a crucial process, and much effort still needs to be made. The decolonisation debate should be beyond the dichotomic relationship between colonisers and colonised. This notion of 'moving beyond being colonised' is an important topic, and should be regarded as part of decolonisation, providing possibilities for Okinawan people to move beyond the single identity of being colonised.

This 'single identity of being colonised' was reinforced by recent Japanese Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) administrations (for example, when Suga Yoshihide, Chief Cabinet Secretary, went to Okinawa on a 'divide and rule' mission to bribe local authorities to oppose former Governor Onaga Takeshi effectively and also sued Onaga and Tamaki Denny for their roles in opposing the new base at Henoko). How could Okinawan art challenge such interventions?

This paper attempts to give voices to Okinawan painters, who struggled to absorb and manage the changing political relationships between the U.S. and Japan. How art production in that "contact zone" reflects the cultural, social, and political complexities from three regions (Japan, the U.S., and Okinawa)? Okinawan artist Yuken Teruya (b.1973) uses the term 'datsu-hishokuminchisha', meaning 'moving beyond being colonised'. He explained that the depiction of rulers and the violence they cause is an attempt to be 'beyond being a colonised people', such as post-war painter Adaniya Masayoshi's 'Longing for Home' (1965), which depicted a U.S. soldier on a U.S. military base in Okinawa during the Vietnam War.

Yuken's bingata artwork entitled 'You-I, You-I' (2002- ) embodies Okinawa's culture, which is a mixture of its traditional history and the legacy of foreign policy between Japan and the U.S. The complexity of Okinawa's history and the political situation are depicted on the bingata patterns, such as images of U.S. soldiers with parachutes and Osprey.

Finally, this paper also discusses new perspectives on the diversity and decolonisation of contemporary Okinawa by discussing the arts outside the main island of Okinawa.