FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Gerald Kato

January 31, 2002 (213) 626-4471

September 11, Aftermath is Focal Point of Cultural Performances at Day of Remembrance Event

Fueled by the horrific events of September 11, Los Angeles-based artists Shida Pegahi, Denise Uyehara and poetry/spoken word ensemble Zero 3 will present original work at this year's Day of Remembrance commemoration scheduled to take place on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum's Aratani Central Hall.

This yearˇ's Day of Remembrance program marks the first time that Arab, Japanese and Asian American artists will come together for the event's cultural performances. Drawing from their reactions to the terrorist attacks of September 11, the three individual pieces lend parallels to the Japanese American internment and the treatment of Arabs and Muslims in the United States after September 11.

Pegahi will present a performance piece featuring dance, poetry and drama entitled "Chadoor." Written by Gita Khashabi, this piece, according to Pegahi, may at first appear as anti-Islamic, but Khashabi's text does not lend itself to simplistic interpretations or sound bytes. In the piece, one can see the cross-pollination of Muslim/Middle Eastern feminism, dance choreography, poetry and drama.

Pegahi is a performance artist, actor, dancer and choreographer. She is also a faculty member of the Westside Academy of Dance and the artistic director of her own company, Ney Nava Dance Theatre in Los Angeles.

Uyehara will perform an excerpt from her work-in-progress entitled "Big Head." This new work explores racial profiling of Japanese Americans, Arab Americans and Muslims during times of crisis. Uyehara is an award-winning performance artist and writer whose work has been presented across the United States, London, Vancouver, Helsinki, Tokyo and Hairou, China. She was recently a "Poets & Writers" resident artist at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Beyond Baroque Literary Center.

Coming off of their successful one-night performance at the UCLA Armand Hammer Museum in December, Zero 3 will be performing a new spoken word piece focusing on their observation of the media fueled frenzy after the September 11 attack. Zero 3 is made up of Kennedy Kabasares, Traci Kato-Kiriyama and Edren Sumagaysay. The trio made their debut in April 2000 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center's Fresh Tracks series at the David Henry Hwang Theatre in Little Tokyo. Since then, Zero 3 has been performing in various venues across Southern California including the Vogue Theatre in Hollywood, the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles and Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica.

The Day of Remembrance event is organized by the Japanese American Citizens League Pacific Southwest District Council (JACL/PSWDC), Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR) and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). Admission to the event is free, however space is limited and reservations are required. To make reservations, call JANM at (213) 625-0414. For more information about the event, call NCRR at (213) 680-3484 or JACL/PSWDC at (213) 626-4471.