As part of its current special exhibit, the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation will be holding a screening of The Cats of Mirikitani, a documentary film about the life of artist and incarceree Jimmy Mirikitani, on Saturday, January 17, at the Heart Mountain Interpretive Center.”
Guests of Mimosas with Mirikitani will enjoy light pastries and fruit, mimosas (21+), and a special screening of the documentary The Cats of Mirikitani. Visitors are invited to spend the morning exploring the exhibit and learning more about the life and art of Jimmy Mirikitani. Admission is $10 per person.
The event will begin at 10 a.m. with refreshments and a viewing of the new Art of Jimmy Mirikitani exhibit. It will be followed at 10:45 a.m. with a showing of the film inside the Mineta-Simpson Institute. The film will end shortly after noon. Check our Facebook page for more details.
Produced by Linda Hattendorf and Masa Yoshikawa, The Cats of Mirikitani details the many phases of Mirikitani’s life. Born in 1920 in Sacramento, Mirikitani moved to Hiroshima, Japan, when he was four years old and returned to the United States shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He and his family were incarcerated at the Tule Lake, Calif., camp, and then at Crystal City, Texas.
In the decades following the war, Mirikitani lived in New York City, where he endured periods of homelessness while creating art and engaging with some of the leading figures of American art, such as painter Jackson Pollock. He died at age 92 in New York in 2012.
The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation obtained the exhibit from the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle.
The Foundation is conducting multiple sessions during the winter months as part of its Winter Program Series. They include presentations by Haruka Takaku, our Japan Outreach Initiative coordinator, and Historic Site Coordinator Johnny Tim Yellowtail, a member of the Apsáalooke Nation that gave Heart Mountain its name.