Exhibition

Unchanging and Changing and Changing

Samphors Say — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 20:35:54 +0000

Unchanging and Changing and Changing Samphors Say Oct 31, 2023

September 23, 2023 10:00am - November 25, 2023 5:00pm

Event Category

'Unchanging and changing and changing' is a solo exhibition and collaborative Nihon-buyō dance & Taiko drum performance by Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka that features wearable paper artworks that are imbued with the life of the performers alongside the histories of craft and place that inform them.

A reflection on well-being and selfhood, the works unite and contrast needs for protective armours and “inverse armours,” the latter activated by dance, music, and friends to encourage expression and joy. Hatanaka reflects on personal aftershocks from tsunamis, both real and metaphorical. Her work integrates her formative childhood experience in dance at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre and is steeped with her recent time spent at a fourth generation paper mill in Japan. Her ethereal work collapse time and string together interconnected histories held within the threads, repairs and fibres of her practice: ancestral ties; the lineage of printmaking, inks, and natural dyes; personal narratives incorporating past printmaking blocks; and scraps of papers sewn into the next and the next work.

Videos share both a look at the Opening Night performance and the intergenerational experience of the papermakers in Japan and an intimate look at Hatanaka’s process while she was immersed in the very lands and community that create the specific paper she has used for over a decade. She intentionally chose a paper that is delicate yet strong, and heartfully shares its possibility into the future and its significance as an over 1000 year sustainable craft technology.

WASHI & ARTIST'S PROCESS

“The softness of the Japanese washi paper and its transparency represents the environment where the natural materials were picked, under a clear sky and near a magnificent river. The warmth and robustness of Japanese washi paper comes from the efforts of farmers and their love for this land where they have lived for several generations. It is thanks to this strong bond between people and nature that the Kashiki paper production company was able to produce Japanese washi paper.” — Kashiki Seishi, fourth generation paper mill in Japan where Hatanaka was an artist in residence.

The durability of washi and the tenacity of its long-standing techniques behave as a symbol for resilience that resonates with Hatanaka’s diasporic identity. A dynamic bond between material and body is present, resulting in personal reflections on the various ways that connections to ancestral crafts nurture a meaningful integration of art-making, identity-making, and community-building.

In her linocut print work, Hatanaka embeds impressions in the washi to convey topographical imageries that resemble chiseled snow, stone, water, earthquakes, or the gesture of a map. These organic forms use pattern-making and repetition to reference mental and emotional geographies as much as physical ones.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & CONTRIBUTORS

Curator: Chiedza Pasipanodya

Nihon Buyo Dance & Taiko Drum Performance: Danielle Yamashita, Katherine Yamashita, Jody Chan, Wy Joung Kou

Musical Performance: Benja, Peach Luffe

DJs: DJ Velma

Documentary Video & Photography: Johnny Nghiem

Collaborative Photo Work: Maya Fuhr, Holly Chang, Ashok Mathur

Advisory Support: Johnny Le

Fabrication: Yorgo Liapis, Dylan Moore

Washi Wearable Modelling: Benja, Peach Luffe, Sima Sepehri, Elissa Mielke, YGC, Leah Mersky, Felicia Daisy, Mist Walker

Production Assistance: Akash Inbakumar, Yahn Nemirovsky, Felicia Daisy, Gideon Näf, Danny Cardoso

Graphic Design: Christine Xia

Performance Video: Zachary Hertzman and Johnny Nghiem

Special thanks to Kashiki Seishi, Kayoko Ichinomiya, Patel Brown Gallery, Studio RAW and Raging Asian Womxn Taiko Drummers, Victor Chin, Max McLarty, Deborah and Glenn Hatanaka, Julie Cawthorne, Miao Liu, Cybèle Young, Tatsuyuki Kitaoka, Sameer Cash, Crispin Day, James Arthurs, Su Yen Chong, Mayumi Lashbrook, Claire Shea, John Donald, JCCC Art Committee and Ayame Kai dancers: Susan, Jackie and Tami, Hisanao Kataoka, Akari Kataoka, Chi Family, and The Japanese Paper Place.

This exhibition was made possible through generous funding from the Canada Council of the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Unchanging and Changing and Changing Exhibit opening

Samphors Say — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 14:05:50 +0000

Unchanging and Changing and Changing Exhibit opening Samphors Say Aug 25, 2023

October 12, 2023 6:30pm - 11:59pm

Event Category

Exhibition

Community Event

EXHIBITION OPENING AND LIVE PERFORMANCES

THURSDAY OCTOBER 12, 2023

DOORS OPEN @6:30 PM, KOBAYASHI HALL

Free Admission | Cash Bar | Exhibition on View | Artist in Attendance

Please register for the opening night and live performances:

Solo exhibition curated by Chiedza Pasipanodya
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Toronto, Canada
September 23–November 25, 2023

Sneak Peek! as part of Nuit Blanche Toronto September 23, 2023, 7 pm–7 am

EVENT AGENDA

Time	Activities
6:30pm	Doors open
7:00pm	Live musical performance by Benja and Peach Luffe in washi wearables.
	Unchanging and changing and changing, a collaborative performance between Taiko drummers Jody Chan & Wy Joung Kou and Nihon Buyo dancers Danielle Yamashita & Katherine Yamashita in washi wearables.
9:00pm	After party
	DJ Velma and more to be announced ♪♪♪

Opening night begins with musicians Benja and Peach Luffe performing in custom washi wearables made by Hatanaka.

Following the music, a live performance of the same name, Unchanging and changing and changing, accompanies the exhibition. This performance brings together Taiko drumming, Nihon Buyo dance and Japanese washi paper techniques used for costuming. These three Japanese expressions are combined in the spirit of celebrating the potential of hybrid, personal and contemporary interpretations of historical practices. Developed collaboratively with Hatanaka, the performance features drummers Jody Chan & Wy Joung Kou and a mother and daughter dance duo Katherine Yamashita & Danielle Yamashita, the latter whom Hatanaka danced with as a child.

The performance traces a story that reaches back generations and toward a hopeful future despite the certainty of grief and gravity. Percussion and movement meld quietly and then persistently propel through a constellation of selfhood, tsunami, dis/order, change, koi, and Obon Odori.

WASHI & ARTIST'S PROCESS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & CONTRIBUTORS

Curator: Chiedza Pasipanodya

Nihon Buyo Dance & Taiko Drum Performance: Danielle Yamashita, Katherine Yamashita, Jody Chan, Wy Joung Kou

Musical Performance: Benja, Peach Luffe

DJs: DJ Velma & more to be announced ♪♪♪

Documentary Video & Photography: Johnny Nghiem

Collaborative Photo Work: Maya Fuhr, Holly Chang, Ashok Mathur

Advisory Support: Johnny Le

Fabrication: Yorgo Liapis, Dylan Moore

Washi Wearable Modelling: Benja, Peach Luffe, Sima Sepehri, Elissa Mielke, YGC, Leah Mersky, Felicia Daisy, Mist Walker

Production Assistance: Akash Inbakumar, Yahn Nemirovsky, Felicia Daisy, Gideon Näf, Danny Cardoso

Graphic Design: Christine Xia

Performance Video:

Zachary Hertzman and Johnny Nghiem

This exhibition was made possible through generous funding from the Canada Council of the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Opening Reception - 60 Years of Friendship Through Culture and Déjà Vu

SuYen — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 15:43:44 +0000

Opening Reception - 60 Years of Friendship Through Culture and Déjà Vu SuYen Apr 13, 2023

April 30, 2023 1:30pm - 3:30pm

Event Category

Reception: April 30 at 1:30pm

Exhibits: Déjà Vu: Split Perception as One | 60 Year of Friendship Through Culture

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC), the Centre invites you and your family to the opening reception for two exhibitions: Déjà Vu: Split Perception as One by Shin Sugino and 60 Years of Friendship Through Culture featuring an art installation by Elysha Rei.

To RSVP, click here to register.

https://bit.ly/JCCCReception

Artists Walk and Talk - Artsu Matsuri 2023

SuYen — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 15:22:26 +0000

Artists Walk and Talk - Artsu Matsuri 2023 SuYen Feb 27, 2023

March 26, 2023 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Event Category

An artist walk-and-talk will take place on March 26, 2023, where each artist will talk about their creations, what inspired them, and the process of how they brought their ideas to life. During the last Artsu Matsuri in 2020 the walk-and-talk was canceled due to Covid-19, however this year’s walk-and-talk offers insight into the new ideas and perspectives artists have gained during their time in isolation. This event will provide an opportunity for guests to meet some of the artists and their families as they informally dialogue with art enthusiasts in a casual setting.

Artsu Matsuri is a community based exhibition celebrating art in the JCCC community. This exhibition features the works of 25 artists: Katherine Adachi, David Bernhard, Kumiko Claros, Ruben Claros, Lois Fuse, Barbara Miiko Gravlin, Gerry Yumiko Hewson, Roslyn Levin, Gloria Kagawa, Tsutao Machida, Kai Morrison, Kaz Ogino, Harvey Okawara, Maryam Poozaki, Nancy Peng (Yamada), Michelle Ramos, Irene Sakata, Keiko Shintani, Ken Sugamori, Naomi Tsuji-Tamaki, Jerrold Tanaka, Kayoko Tanaka, Mui-Ling Teh, Rita Wong, and Hiroshi Yamamoto.

Artists Walk & Talk is happening on March 26 at 2pm.

This exhibition is available for viewing until April 21, 2023.

Broken Promises

SuYen — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 18:27:20 +0000

Broken Promises SuYen Aug 23, 2021

September 19 - November 22, 2021

Event Category

Heritage

Exhibition

Grounded in research from Landscapes of Injustice – a 7 year multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, community engaged project, this exhibit explores the dispossession of Japanese Canadians in the 1940s. It illuminates the loss of home and the struggle for justice of one racially marginalized community. The story unfolds by following seven narrators. Learn about life for Japanese Canadians in Canada before war, the administration of their lives during and after war ends, and how legacies of dispossession continue to this day.

Visiting Hours

Registration for on-site exhibit tour appointments of Maru: Immigration Stories and Broken Promises is now available for booking:

ON SITE VISIT SIGN UP

To learn more about JCCC's Vaccine Policy when visiting the exhibits, click here.

More Resources

Complementary website: Landscape of Injustice - Narrative Site

Download exhibit tour app: Apple Store or Google Play

Broken Promises Catalogue (PDF)

La brochure Promesses Brisées (PDF)

Learn more about Landscapes of Injustice Project: LOI Online Archive

This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.

https://jccc.on.ca/exhibition-tour-sign-ups

Mottainai(勿体無い): The Beauty of Reclaimed Materials

Samphors Say — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 18:49:22 +0000

Mottainai(勿体無い): The Beauty of Reclaimed Materials Samphors Say Nov 15, 2023

January 1, 2024 10:00am - March 31, 2024 7:00pm

Event Category

Community Event

Exhibition

Heritage

"Mottainai (勿体無い) is a well-known Japanese word that carries a profound message of respect and appreciation for resources and the environment. It's a concept deeply rooted in Japanese culture, promoting the idea of not wasting anything with value. When something is 'Mottainai,' it means that we recognize the inherent worth of even the smallest of things and make the most of what we have." - Mui-Ling Teh

Artists in the JCCC's community are invited to take part in "Mottainai - The Beauty of Reclaimed Materials", opening in the first two weeks of January and continuing until the end of March. This community art exhibition is inspired by Keiko Shintani, who uses recycled silk fabric in her woven pieces. Artists are challenged to reuse, upcycle, repurpose, and recycle items to create new artworks.

Your imagination is the limit. Japanese Canadian artists, Japanese artists, and artists from the JCCC community are welcome to submit a maximum of 3 artworks to the exhibition.

The Art Committee reserves the right to show fewer than the limit. Please fill out the statement of Interest form by December 31st if you are interested in participating in this exhibition, and further information will be sent to you regarding artist agreements and artwork submission.

APPLY HERE

Yuima~ru: Spirit of Coming Together

SuYen — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 14:52:00 +0000

Yuima~ru: Spirit of Coming Together SuYen Jul 5, 2023

July 25, 2023 5:30pm-July 26, 2024 12:00am

Event Category

Exhibition

Heritage

“Why didn’t she believe our people existed?” (Shō Yamagushiku, 2021)

Yuima~ru explores the rich history of the Kingdom of Ryukyu through the stories of the Okinawan diaspora in Canada and beyond. Embodying the spirit of communal support and working together, the Okinawan diasporic community's way of life and outlook resonate with many dispersed communities across Canada. Nestled within the larger exhibit, Maru: Immigration Stories, Yuima~ru will take you on a journey of displacement, migration, community building, and a sense of belonging.

Déjà Vu: Split Perception as One

SuYen — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 15:10:49 +0000

Déjà Vu: Split Perception as One SuYen Jan 10, 2023

May 1 - July 28, 2023

Event Category

Heritage

JCCC Gallery

Exhibition

“I have always felt part of many cultures but at home in none. Perhaps as a remedy, for more than five decades, I have used my camera unflinchingly to explore the themes of my experience.”

As part of the Contact Photography Festival, the JCCC presents "Déjà Vu: Split Perception as One" by Shin Sugino. In search of a multiple sense of belonging, Sugino’s black and white works loom over viewers in a larger-than-life format. A strict upbringing by French nuns in post-WWII Japan, and ultimately, a rejection by his father as an adult are powerful chapters in Sugino’s life that bleed into this collection of works – a raw gaze into Sugino’s memories of splintered temporalities.

Déjà Vu: Split Perception as One is part of the Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival.

60 Years of Friendship Through Culture

SuYen — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 17:17:26 +0000

60 Years of Friendship Through Culture SuYen Nov 9, 2022

May 1, 2023-May 1, 2024

Event Category

Heritage

Exhibition

The JCCC will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2023. 60 years is an important milestone in Japanese Culture as it signals the start of a new 60-year cycle – synonymous with rebirth. This exhibition highlights Japanese Canadian history from the late 1800’s, with a focus on the opening and history of the JCCC at 123 Wynford Drive in Toronto and its transition to 6 Garamond Court. The JCCC was established to create a safe space for Japanese Canadians, and to share Japanese culture with all Canadians. With the efforts of volunteers and the 75 guarantor families that signed the original mortgage needed to build the JCCC, the Centre has become a vibrant space to grow Nikkei community in the GTA and champion Japanese Canadian culture.

Featured Artist: Elysha Rei レイ.エリーシャ

The Strength in Sixty Sakura

Hand-cut in paper, The Strength in Sixty Sakura represents the strength and resilience of the Japanese Canadian community, captured in the history and programming of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Commemorating its 60th Anniversary, 60 blossoms adorn these branches, marking each year of education, partnerships, participation and learning at the Centre.

The Sakura has a long history of cultural symbolism in Japan. The country’s distinct agrarian history, and reverence for seasonal connection and nature may be a reason why this tree has become such a powerful emblem of Japan and Japanese culture.

In Springtime this beautiful tree relates to the Japanese tradition of ohanami – translated to ‘flower viewing’ – a cultural event that continues traditions of pilgrimage established in the early Nara period (710 – 784). This annual event coincides with the short window of blossoming flowers, where people travel from far and wide to gather and share the experience, eating food and drinking sake. The ancient roots of the ohanami custom are connected to the belief that kami (spirits) live in Sakura, which lead to communal praying with food and sake under the trees.

Sakura became a symbol of peace, when on 1 April 1959, Japanese Ambassador to Canada, Toru Hagiwara, presented 2000 Japanese Somei-Yoshino Sakura trees on behalf of the citizens of Tokyo, as a gift to the citizens of Toronto for their support of Japanese Canadian after WWII. And between years 2000 and 2012, over 3000 Sakura trees were gifted to Toronto during the Ontario Sakura Project, which were planted in 60 places across the city.

Sakura trees grace the gardens of the JCCC and take naming rights in the annual Sakura Gala event and Sakura Award. There is undeniable strength in the beauty, history, and cultural significance of the Sakura. Now represented in paper, I hope these delicate forms have captured the strength and resilience of the Japanese-Canadian community, and will inspire visitors to learn more about Nikkei heritage.

Exhibit Acknowledgement

The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) is pleased to acknowledge the dedicated individuals and institutions who made 60 Years of Friendship through Culture possible.

Thanks to JCCC staff members Su Yen Chong, Theressa Takasaki, and Sandy Chan for their expertise and guidance in curation. Thanks to graphic designer Sarah Doi who played an integral role in the production and installation of the exhibition. And to the community members, volunteers, and JCCC staff who assisted throughout the process.

Thanks to University of Toronto Masters students Shauna Weimann, Johnny Pham, and Hazel Hay for dedicating their final year of study to the planning and creation of the exhibit. And the University of Toronto’s iSchool for partnering with the JCCC on this project. Leading this partnership were professors Cara Krmpotich and Morgan Mavis.

A special thanks to those in the community who have come before, and built the JCCC into what it is today. And to those community members here today, who continue to bring life to the JCCC.

https://bit.ly/JCCCReception

Artsu Matsuri 2023

SuYen — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 15:23:24 +0000

Artsu Matsuri 2023 SuYen Nov 9, 2022

January 15 - April 21, 2023

Event Category

Heritage

Exhibition

JCCC Gallery