JAALA(Japan, Asian, African, Latin-American Artist Association) was established in 1977 to create an avenue for artistic exchange with the Third World. It was founded in opposition to the mainstream Japanese art world, which followed along with the West. One of its founding members was the artist Tomiyama Taeko(富山妙子). She was quick to recognize that “expression of new cultures was beginning amid suffering from colonial rule, invasion, oppression under dictatorships, exploitation, and poverty in Korea, Palestine, Thailand, the Philippines, and other countries.”

Meanwhile, coincidentally, in the same year that JAALA was founded, Tomiyama formed the Asian Women’s Association with Matsui Yayori(松井やより), Yamaguchi Akiko(山口明子), Gotō Masako(五島昌子), and others to express themselves as they stood together with Asian women who were experiencing political repression, economic exploitation, and other forms of oppression.

Tomiyama Taeko sought a way for “Asia” and “women” to become subjects who would create a “new wind.” In this lecture, I will reflect on her gaze towards the Third World, and her collaboration with the women’s movement, and consider how we can continue that “New Wind” today.