Gretchen Batcheller
Among and Between Agencies
2017
100cm x 80cm
Acrylic and oil on linen
I grew up the daughter of a Navy fighter pilot, who himself was from a long line of Naval officers. In the late 70’s, when my family was stationed in Yokohama, Japan, I was an infant/child transplanted into a new culture with a language I did not understand and surrounded by impressionable visuals. As I explore these distant childhood memories, it is paramount to address my family’s multigenerational participation in the militarization of the Pacific. My place of privilege as a white, cisgender, heterosexual daughter of a Navy Captain has (until my adult years) veiled my ability to recognize the impact the United States military has had (and continues to have) on entire societies, economies and the natural environments that sustain them. This ongoing revelation as an adult challenges my ability to find an appropriate artistic expression for the seemingly endless layers of my experience living in Japan, and later in Hawai’i, as a military dependent. This ongoing body of work serves as a fractured, visual correlate for a remembered reality that oscillates between gradients of cultural discovery, systemic oppression, relationship, growth, and the power of memory.