This month at the ASU Art Museum, patrons of art can discover the work of world-renowned artist Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba, and his vision for global change.

Hatsushiba was born in 1968 in Tokyo and spent his childhood in the midst of the Vietnam War.

Hatsushiba witnessed the physical and emotional suffering of the country’s refugees, and it was there that he found the inspiration for his current works.

Hatsushiba began his art career by directing underwater films featuring cab drivers in Vietnam dragging their human-pulled carts underwater with chains.

This representation was Hatsushiba’s way of demonstrating that many refugees have had to survive against all odds.

Heather Sealy Linberry, senior curator and interim director of the ASU Art Museum, first witnessed Hatsushiba’s work during a display at the New Museum in New York.

She said the artist’s films gave her goose bumps.

Hatsushiba’s new body of work titled “Breathing Is Free” is the artist’s attempt to try to relate to those who have been the victims of war and disaster around the world.

“All this time I have been behind the camera,” Hatsushiba said. “It’s time for me to experience what it is to physically and emotionally struggle.”

Hatsushiba describes “Breathing Is Free” as “running drawing.”

For the project, he plans to run 12,756.3 kilometers — exactly the diameter of the Earth.
Hatsushiba has already run through 10 major cities along his quest.

“Eventually I would like to run through places affected by refugee crisis, but it is still very dangerous,” he said.

The real art comes not only from Hatsushiba’s determination and selflessness, but also from the time he takes to run in the path of shapes found in nature.

When running, Hatsushiba is connected to a GPS tracking system through his watch, which is synched with Google Earth.

The satellites trace the path that Hasushiba runs and outlines it along a large map.

Among the cities that Hatsushiba has already covered is Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, where the artist ran 118.3 kilometers in the shape of a body of water. And in Manchester, England, he ran 92.6 kilometers in the outline of a fern.

This Friday at a private preview of “Breathing Is Free” at the ASU Art Museum, Hatsushiba spoke to those who attended the event.

When asked by an attendee what his sole inspiration was for the project, Hatsushiba said there is one question he has carried with him since his childhood in Vietnam: “Why do some have to leave their country to find happiness or safety?”

The displacement of refugees is intolerable, Hatsushiba said.

“We should be able to stay where we are,” he said.

In the exhibit, one wall of the large white room was adorned with 10 flat-screen televisions side by side, showing footage of Hasushiba running in the 10 cities he has completed so far.

While watching the screens, the artist described his thought process while running through the sometimes-treacherous landscapes.

“I’m not seeing the surroundings, even though I’m passing through,” he said. “I focus on my breathing and it becomes meditation.”

Reach the reporter at Kelsey.groetken@asu.edu.