The Vault: Miki Nishida Goerdt - Remembering to Heal

Miki Nishida Goerdt is a visual artist, an art therapist, and a social worker/social change agent. She grew up in Japan and immigrated to the United States 25 years ago. She utilizes painting, printmaking, and mixed media as her visual language. Her artworks often capture her personal experiences and memories, which serve as the invitations for the viewers to start feeling more intimate connections with larger societal concerns and cultural concepts. The main themes she explores in her artworks include psychological concepts such as the inner child and the process of emotional healing, social and psychological impacts of oppression, and how societal contexts influence one’s identity formation. As an art therapist and educator, she uses art and the creative process to facilitate self-awareness and mental health healing in others. Miki has exhibited her works in exhibitions throughout the United States. She recently completed a self-initiated artist residency (“The Artist Residency in Motherhood” movement) of 8 months in 2023, as a way to join the collective effort and challenge the gatekeeping found in the art world. She is a member of Falls Church Arts gallery.

Artist Statement:

"Life experiences and events often do not make sense right away. This was especially true for me when I moved to a college in the Midwest at age 18. Art has been my method of making space for difficult feelings, joy, and losses in life, as well as alternative viewpoints. It provides me with a safe distance to sit with my experiences and the time to gather my thoughts. Oftentimes, this becomes the beginning of my research on cultural concepts, psychology, social phenomena, or historical information related to my experiences. I seek to understand what happened in its entirety, encompassing all the contexts involved in the experience. I believe art is a way for us to learn about ourselves in order to heal and grow.

For the past several years, I have explored the concepts of cultural loss, cultural identity loss, and associated grief through my art practice. I define cultural loss as a phenomenon in which one loses familiarity with their cultural knowledge, customs, and languages. A byproduct of cultural loss is the loss of cultural identity, diminishing the sense of pride and respect for one’s own culture, and eroding one’s sense of belonging. Cultural loss can occur due to time spent away from the home country, as well as through multiple forms of oppression in the new host country. Social contexts and political climates may promote cultural losses, as one’s culture may be cherished one day but frowned upon another day based on the political relationships between home and host countries. Moreover, cultural loss and cultural identity loss can span across generations in a family, slowly marginalizing people into the mainstream culture.

My recent artistic expressions are the results of personal reflection as an Asian, Japanese immigrant in the U.S. and a woman of color. I have explored the instigators of cultural losses, methods to reclaim what was lost, and ways to regain a sense of belonging to my culture of origin. Through this exploration, I hope to articulate what transforms this specific yet less recognized type of grief into healing."

www.mikigoerdt.com