FINDING HOME AFTER INTERNMENT A SEVEN-SIDED STORY ART PRACTICE, MEMORY AND ENGAGED RESPONSE KATHERINE TERESA YAMASHITA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN EDUCATION LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND TEACHING YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO SEPTEMBER 2011 ® K. Yamashita, 2011 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-88710-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-88710-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distrbute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. Canada FINDING HOME AFTER INTERNMENT A SEVEN-SIDED STORY ART PRACTICE, MEMORY AND ENGAGED RESPONSE by K. Yamashita By virtue of submitting this document electronically, the author certifies that this is a true electronic equivalent of the copy of the dissertation approved by York University for the award of the degree. No alteration of the content has occurred and if there are any minor variations in formatting, they are as a result of the conversion to Adobe Acrobat format (or similar software application). Examination Committee members: 1. Lisa Farley (Chair) 2. Rishma Dunlop (Supervisor) 3. Aparna Mishra Tare (Program Member) 4. Yvonne Singer (Outside Member) 5. Mario DiPaolantonio (Dean's Representative) 6. Pamela Sugiman (External) ABSTRACT This dissertation employs artistic practice to explore points of intersection and divergence among the life histories of seven sisters who were interned by the Canadian government during World War II. The study draws on the personal perspectives of the researcher and her family members to conduct an intergenerational exploration of historical trauma and its transference. Each story recounts the experience of internment, its aftermath, as well as the time and place that each storyteller found "home." A participatory art installation was produced that employs a variety of visual, written, and audio/visual texts. Functioning as a point of engagement, this immersive environment acted as a place of witness, a researcher's response, and as an open invitation for gallery visitors to make meaning. This supports the researcher's claim that through artistic practice, archives containing personal witness accounts can engage an audience direcdy, challenge or reframe historical pre conceptions, inspire meaning making, and invite creative response. In the written text, this work contributes to the field of memory studies through an interweaving of collected artifacts: historical photographs, autobiographical life writing, and life history interviews to support the claim that context, personal and collective significance, and the meaningful transference of personal histories can reframe, resignify, and supplement official accounts of history. Experiences of the Japanese Canadian Internment are reconstructed through personal and creative practices of memory to theorize the idea of post-memory and its significance to a member of a post-generation. Moving between lyric and more traditional text, journeys through memory and the photograph, history and postrnemory, home and identity, document a personal path through these theoretical territories. Finally, the stories of the sisters present the memories and experiences of specific lives told in relation to the injustices enacted against Japanese Canadians. They demonstrate the difference between living through and beyond events and the black- and-white facts of history. The stories show how the sisters—after alienation, incarceration, and displacement—managed to establish family, identity, and home. IV Dedicated to Jean Yaeko Fujimoto Lucielle Oikawa Kimie Watanabe June Minemoto Lily Westerlund Susan Olssen May Kumoi Naomi Kumoi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to first thank my daughter who interviewed and videotaped my mother for a high school assignment. Her interest in our family history inspired me in my work here. My mother and my aunts have been central in my work and in helping me to better understand our female family heritage. I am so grateful for their gracious gifts of time, and most importandy, for their stories. I dedicate this work to them. I would like to acknowledge the inspiration and support of Professor Rishma Dunlop. I found my voice in having to read my writing aloud in her class. Her support of my hybrid and often fragmented way of working has allowed me to develop as a researcher and as an artist. My thanks to the other members of my committee, Professor Lisa Farly and Professor Aparna Mishra Tare for their support and guidance through many rewrites. I would also like to thank Professor Mary Leigh Morbey and Professor Ron Owston for early support. Sincere thanks also to the members of my examination committee, Professor Yvonne Singer, Professor Mario DiPaolantonio and Professor Pamela Sugiman for their expertise and contributions to conversations about my research. I appreciate the whole committee's willingness to come to the gallery for the defence so they could experience the artistic component of this dissertation. My gratitude and thanks to the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre for their support and the opportunity to show my work in their gallery and to the National Association of Japanese Canadians for their support. My love and thanks to my family for all their support in my academic endeavours. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The "Eye.I" In My Work 10 Art-Practice as Research 11 Postmemory and Research 18 Oral History and Shared Authority 21 Chapter 2 Previous Excavations 29 The Japanese in Canada Before and During the War 30 Women and the Internment Early Writings 32 Recent Views 34 Memory and Identity 37 Creative Response 43 Chapter 3 Photographic Memory 51 Thoughts Written For My Mother 52 Memory and the Photograph 61 Chapter 4 A Journey Into the Past 72 B.C. Journal: My Historical Research 73 Post-Memory 94 Chapter 5 Home Away From Home 102 Visiting Japan to Interview Aunt Kimie 103 Homes Away From Home 108 Chapter 6 Lived History 115 Seven Sisters' Life Stories 116 Chapter 7 Artistic Construction, Psychic Reconstruction 149 Bibliography 162 vii TABLE OF IMAGES 1. Self-Portrait, Mixed Media, K. Yamashita viii 2. A Day that Will Live in Infamy, K. Yamashita 1 3. Notice for the forced evacuation ofJapanese Canadians from the B.C. coast. Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province newspapers in June 1942 © Vancouver Public Library / VPL Accession No. 12851 CD No. 159 ' 2 4. My Eye/Ego, K. Yamashita 10 5. My mother andfriends in Tashme, Collection of Jean Fujimoto 28 6. Photographic Memories, Photo Collage, Katherine Yamashita 51 7. My mother, aunt and son in Kyoto, K. Yamashita, 2005 52 8. Grandma's Ashes, K. Yamashita, 2005 54 9. Chemainus Picnic, Collection of Kenji Kumoi 56 10. Family Portrait, Chemainus, Collection of Kenji Kumoi 57 11. Mom, Uncle Kenchan, Aunt May, Aunt Kimie, Kenji and Me 58 12. Mining and Undermining, mixed media, Katherine Yamashita 72 13. Tashme Christian Girls in Training, September 4, 1945, Jo Seko 75 14. Mike and me at Bear Point, J ean Fujimoto, 1978 78 15. Mom at the Chemainus Cemetery, K. Yamashita, 1978 79 16. Sunshine Valley Real Estate Office, K. Yamashita 85 17. Tashme Internment Camp, Photo courtesy of the Hope Museum Hope Travel Information Centre, 919 Water Avenue, Hope, BC, Canada 86 18. Sunshine Valley, K. Yamashita, 2008 87 19. Mike on the Bridge, K. Yamashita, 2008 89 20. Group Photo, Tashme, Photo courtesy of the Hope Museum 91 21. The Oikawa Family 102 22. The home of Emi, Yoshihiro and Kotaro, K. Yamashita, 2009 104 23. Uncle Kenchan's Ashes, K. Yamashita, 2009 105 24. Family Barbeque at the Kawasakis', K. Yamashita, 2009 107 25. Leave-taking, K. Yamashita, 2009 108 26. Message to Aunt Lily, K. Yamashita 115 27. Chemainus Superior, Division 6, 1938, Collection of J ean Fujimoto 119 28. View From Home, K. Yamashita 149 29. Finding Home Exhibition, Katherine Yamashita 150 30. Finding Home Opening, Katherine Yamashita 153 31. Memoy Box Covers, Katherine Yamashita 154 32. Letters, Katherine Yamashita 155 33. Creative Response Station 156 34. Video Response Station 156 Image 1. Self-Portrait, K. Yamashita Memory is water cupped in the palm of a hand. It slips through fingers, running free, and falls on me to be absorbed, leaving first a dark stain and then evaporating — into soul.