{"id":17005,"date":"2019-01-23T21:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-01-24T05:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=17005"},"modified":"2019-01-21T15:41:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-21T23:41:18","slug":"artist-looks-at-history-of-japanese-canadian-fishermen-in-new-exhibit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/01\/23\/artist-looks-at-history-of-japanese-canadian-fishermen-in-new-exhibit\/","title":{"rendered":"Artist looks at history of Japanese-Canadian fishermen in new exhibit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Marlene Howell\u2019s art show \u201cA Series for Contemplation,\u201d part of The Lost Fleet<\/em> exhibition, looks at the world of Japanese-Canadian fishermen in British Columbia before the bombing of Pearl Harbour, which launched the United States into the Second World War. This impacted thousands of Japanese-Canadian lives in BC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe that nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadians lost their fishing boats at that time,\u201d says Howell, who is Japanese-Canadian herself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howell says that the experience of creating the works in the exhibit was emotional for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I look at all these photographs, I kept thinking every photo has a story,\u201d she says. \u201cThey worked hard to save up money to buy a boat, and then it was taken away and took out to the east coast where [there\u2019s] no ocean, so they couldn\u2019t continue fishing; they had to find another job and start all over again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Artist Marlene Howell stands with one of her paintings (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Howell says that when she was painting, she was trying to get to know how the people felt at the time of these events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t there when it happened, but going through all those photographs and reading about some of the families, it was emotional for me,\u201d says Howell. \u201cEach painting I did, I put a lot of feelings into it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howell says that the event launch\u2014which will feature herself, Michael Abe, Jordan Stranger-Ross, and David Suzuki as speakers and is happening on Thursday, January 24\u2014should be informative and helpful for attendees. She says that she, for example, wasn\u2019t always informed about things that happened back then, even though her parents were interned and owned a rooming house in Vancouver that got confiscated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI really didn\u2019t know too much, because I wasn\u2019t around at that time,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t born and my parents never discuss what they went through\u2014they wanted to protect their children\u2014and not until later years, through reading lectures, [do] you find out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Howell says that she put a lot of work into researching pictures from that era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo reflect the Canadian fishing boat, I went through hundreds of old black and white  photographs, and I chose a few that I thought will make an impact on the viewers,\u201d she says. \u201cI used those photographs to inspire my painting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somehow, all the photos have connections with Howell, although in many different ways. She says there was a particularly unexpected revelation one day when some friends came over as she was working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have the photographs sitting there, and my friend asks me, \u2018Where did you get this picture? That\u2019s my grandfather\u2019s boat!\u2019 I didn\u2019t know that until that time. It\u2019s unreal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lost Fleet<\/em>
Until Sunday, March 31
The Maritime Museum of British Columbia
mmbc.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Marlene Howell\u2019s art show \u201cA Series for Contemplation,\u201d part of The Lost Fleet exhibition, looks at the world of Japanese-Canadian fishermen in British Columbia before the bombing of Pearl Harbour, which launched the United States into the Second World War. This impacted thousands of Japanese-Canadian lives in BC. \u201cI can\u2019t believe that nearly 1,200 Japanese-Canadians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17006,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,225],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-january-23-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t