Salt Lake City marking 50 years of ties to Japan 'sister'

"I was really taken by the relationship, and I wanted to explore it," Chambless said. "I was interested in telling an oral history using stories from people in Matsumoto and people in Salt Lake, recounting exchanges between various people in the two cities."

Chambless, who studied journalism at the University of Texas, spent about three years gathering photos, conducting interviews and sorting through letters to assemble the material needed to support the story he wanted to tell.

"I wanted to revisit this idea of people to people and show it more as a concept that was universally understood and embraced by people here in Salt Lake City and over there in Matsumoto," he said. "I wanted to show how that could be an effective method of people understanding each other."

Chambless also wanted to apply Eisenhower's idea of a people-to-people quest for peace to today's world and determine if and how it remains relevant.

That intrigued Leslie Kelen, executive director of the Center for Documentary Arts — one of the founding partners in The Leonardo art, culture and science center.

CDA has been producing traveling exhibits and documentary work — mostly focused on ethnic and minority communities — for about 25 years, Kelen said.

The idea of exploring how Salt Lake City and Matsumoto could forge and sustain a relationship in the post-World War II era was something Kelen said he wanted to see materialize.

CDA joined forces with Chambless and brought in exhibit designers and fabricators to create "Ceremonies." After its stay at the downtown library, the exhibit will travel to Salt Lake City schools, Kelen said.

"It's an intriguing educational opportunity," he said. "It's an opportunity to let young people sort of step into this relationship and see the potential of it."

Political leaders and guests from Matsumoto are scheduled to visit Salt Lake City July 22-26. A reception and dinner is planned for July 24 at the Wagner Jewish Community Center, 2 N. Medical Drive. The event gets under way at 6 p.m. For more information, call 801-535-7269.

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E-mail: jpage@desnews.com