Gallery: Telling Our Stories

Telling Our Stories:
A Photo-history of Japanese Canadians, 1930’s – 1960’s

Featuring over 150 original photographs and albums from the JCCC Archives and Japanese-Canadian Community, TELLING OUR STORIES presents a cross-section of life in Canada for the Japanese-Canadian population between the early and mid 20th century.

Individually, each photograph provides a fundamental point of focus for the study of photographic history and asks questions about the past. Who were they? How did they spend their lives? What was important? What made this this moment special enough to be photographed? We are given a glimpse into their lives, their hopes, their dreams, and the stories told through each image.

Viewed together, each decade brings about a history of a people, bringing to life the history of Japanese-Canadians in Canada. Stories of perseverance and the bonds of family and community can be seen while notions of the individual, immigration and entire generations are explored.

The exhibit, “Telling Our Stories: A Photo-history of Japanese Canadians, 1930’s-1960’s encourages visitors to bring their own family photo albums and learn how to archive your own family’s collection. There were opportunities to have photos scanned for their own collection and some donated their scans to the Heritage Archives and Collection.

Opening Day Activities on Sunday, November 25 from 1:00pm to 4:00pm.
The activities will introduce you to the work of Heritage’s Archives, how to archive your own family photo albums, the opportunity to have photos scanned for your own collection and possibly to donate to Heritage Archives, and the importance of family stories.