Thu April 25th Open 11 AM–5 PM
Nikiko Masumoto
2020 YBCA 100 Honoree
Nikiko Masumoto is an organic farmer, memory keeper, and artist. She is Yonsei, a fourth generation Japanese American, and gets to touch the same soil her great-grandparents worked in California where Masumoto Family Farm grows organic nectarines, apricots, peaches, and grapes for raisins. She activates her facilitation, leadership, and creative skills as a performer and leader in the following organizations: as co-founder of Yonsei Memory Project, team member of Center for Performance and Civic Practice re-imagining group, board of Trustees of Western States Arts Federation, board of directors of Art of the Rural, University Advisory Board of California State University at Fresno, and perennial volunteer change-worker. Her most cherished value is courage and most important practice is listening.
More on YBCA for Nikiko Masumoto
Public Programs
Interactive Studio Hours with the YBCA 10 Artists
Saturday, October 16, 2021, 12–4:30 PM
“I want the people who work the land, the people who feed us, to be valued.”
YBCA 10 Project
YBCA 10 members Darryl Ratcliff and Nikiko Masumoto have partnered together to create a Plant Library, a gathering of plants that can be “checked out” by anyone.
Each plant was selected with intention, embracing many BIPOC epistemologies of plants including: plants as medicine, as cultural connections, as companions, as indigenous and native to a place, as adaptive to environments across time, as gateways of carbon capture, as nourishment, and as vessels of spirituality and beauty.
Visitors can learn about caring for their chosen plant and contribute their experiences with it to the Plant Library so each plant’s story is carried on to the next person.