Family Separation: Using art to inspire solidarity

We are thrilled that artist, educator, and activist John Matsunaga has brought his latest project to ESFL, a book of photography which explores the impact of WWII incarceration on generations of his family.  Two years ago, John brought his project Nidoto Nai Yoni (“Forgetting and Remembering the War-Time Incarceration of Japanese-Americans”) to ESFL, and it provided the basis for a rich conversation about the ways the U.S. government is threatening our Muslim neighbors.  Last year, John’s work contributed to our exhibit, Human Proof Fence, in which members from four communities used their art to represent their experiences of dislocation, confinement, immigration, and resettlement.

 

In Kazuko No Tame Ni (“For the Sake of the Family”), John asks viewers to consider not only the impact of mass incarceration on Japanese-Americans and their children and grandchildren, but also the impact of family separation policies and practices on many, many other communities.  Such policies have created similar and shared experiences among a wide range of our neighbors: Native Americans, whose children were taken away and placed in boarding schools; African Americans, whose families were disrupted by the international and domestic slave trades, and, more recently, by the carceral state; immigrants from Southeast Asia and East Africa, who spent years in refugee camps; immigrants from Central America, who are confronted by militarized borders and concentration  camps.

 

ESFL has a rich collection of books which explore these and other experiences.  Some are scholarly, some are memoirs and oral histories, and some are novels.  Reading them can enrich our understanding of these experiences which are so important to the formation and functioning of our communities.  But we also believe that hearing directly from participants in these experiences adds a rich layer of knowledge to our comprehension of each other and of our society.