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These three hanging panels reference a Japanese scroll. From top to bottom the panels reference immigration, labor, and survival; incarceration, internalization, resilience, and endurance; and legacy of incarceration and the future of younger generations.Label
The entire banner represents a dignified husband and wife at the top, with their lush fields behind them, cleared from forest; in the next panel, strawberries fall to the ground and a house is burning. The bottom section, in the BONFIRE exhibition, dramatically represents the ongoing pain of the incarceration with barbed wire in the open mouths of two Nikkei and flames around their heads. The strawberries become children, those born in the camps amidst barbed wire, but at the very bottom, a girl lets fly away a paper crane.Label
This is a detail of a larger work referencing the history of Bellevue Nikkei, from the early farmers, through the WWII forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans, to the younger generations. This image represents the legacy of the incarceration and the future of younger generation Nikkei. Barbed wire appears in the open mouths of two Nikkei who have found their voice to speak out against injustice, past and present. A young girl gives flight to a paper crane or tsuru, a symbol of peace and hope. (digital Wing Luke)Label
The Bellevue Japanese American story is an almost invisible, but significant local
history. Before World War II, there were many Japanese American farms in the
downtown Bellevue area.
These three hanging panels reference a Japanese scroll that has been sectioned -
culture, tradition and identity change and fragment with progressive generations of the
Japanese diaspora.
The top panel references immigration, labor and survival. Two cranes fly east over the
rising sun and waves of the Pacific Ocean. Japanese American farmers clear the land
of trees and stumps and make fertile ground to grow produce.
The middle panel symbolizes the incarceration experience: the pain, internalization,
resilience and endurance of the Japanese American community. During and after
WWII, many Nikkei families lost their land and faced rampant racism fed by wartime
hysteria. Persons of Japanese ancestry were told to pack only what they could carry
when they were forcibly removed from the West Coast. Harvested strawberries fall out
of an open suitcase. The Blue Star Mother's flag signifies the Japanese Americans
who served in the U.S. military while their families were incarcerated. The burning
house represents loss and psychological trauma.
The third panel represents the legacy of the incarceration and the future of younger
generations. The falling strawberries turn into children. Barbed wire forms the U.S. flag
and appears in the open mouths of two Nikkei who have found their voice to speak out
against injustice, past and present. A young girl gives flight to a paper crane or tsuru, a
symbol of peace and hope.