Sai Clayton
Blood on My Hands, Fish in My Veins
This show is multi-disciplinary body of artwork spanning paintings, works on paper,
and a collaborative artist book reflecting on war, cultural exchange, and my mixed Japanese-American heritage.
Drawing from WWII history, pop culture, wartime propaganda, and my family’s archives, the work examines how two sides once at war became connected through the love of my parents and my grandfathers’ shared love of fish. Sai Clayton (2026)
Image of The U.S. Navy VF-31 squadron insignia (1935) featuring Felix the Cat (Otto Messmer & Pat Sullivan, 1919) hand embroidered on silk organza and stretched over a photograph of the artist’s maternal grandfather (ca. 1947)
30 x 40 inches
Image of Astroboy (Osamu Tezuka, 1952) embroidered on silk organza and stretched over a photograph of the artist’s paternal grandfather aboard the USS Princeton CV-37 (ca. 1953)
24 x 24 inches
Image of American Football players hand embroidered on silk organza and stretched over a photograph of the artist’s maternal grandfather at an onsen (ca. 1962)
24 x 36 inches
Sai Clayton (she/her) is a Nashville-based visual artist and independent curator. Clayton’s work combines autobiography with real and imagined historical icons to consider transcultural paradoxes.
She was the 2021-22 Curatorial Fellow at the Frist Art Museum and is currently the Programming Director at Arcade Arts Nashville. She holds a B.A. in Visual Arts from Middle Tennessee State University.