KYUGORO

After a recent discovery that her great-great uncle, Kyugoro, emigrated to the US at the turn of the 20th century, MAKIKO has woven a storyline that describes the journey Japanese people emigrating to the US would have experienced during the period between the late 19th century and post-war.

Part of a larger project, the book focusses on the hysteria following the Pearl Harbour Attack, and how it impacted on people with Japanese ancestry. Over 120,000 people were sent to 10 internment camps across the United States.

The book is deeply relevant to today’s challenges: emigrating in pursuit of a dream, navigating societal changes brought about by conflict/war, and struggling to establish identity, finding community, and reconciling belief/religion. It reflects Kyugoro’s experiences and those of countless other immigrants.

MAKIKO designed a palm-size book, based on Kyugoro’s hymnal. Discovering a distant familial connection to Lawson Inada, Oregon’s poet laureate, led to a collaboration featuring three exclusive poems by him.

MAKIKO is an international visual artist and author, based in the UK. A former mentee with Magnum Photos, she is currently at The Royal College of Art. Her practice focuses on socio-economic issues and human history and and since 2006 her work has been exhibited globally. She has published three books: Beautifully Different (2014); its Japanese version (2016); and Battleship Island (Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2018).

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