ARATANI Nisuke
Born: 5 May 1874 – Died: 29 January 1944
Particulars:
Nisuke was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan and arrived in Australia when he was 23 years old. He spent a total of 44 years in the far north region of Queensland: 10 years in Innisfail, 21 years in Gimuy / Cairns, 10 years in Atherton, and three years in Mourilyan. He also worked as a laundryman at the Malanda Hotel, although it is unclear if this was part of his 10 year stint in Atherton. He was working as a labourer at the sugar mill in Mourilyan when the Pacific War broke out. He was interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales and died of deterioration of the heart muscle at age 69. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
John Grech
Artist/s Statement:
‘Life Not Forgotten’
After learning about Aratani’s life, I thought about how to represent him. But I soon realised the impossibility of trying to represent any living being as a form or object, other than the fullness of the life of being himself. So after struggling for a time, I felt the best way to do justice to Nisuke Aratani was to approach his life symbolically and from a minimalist perspective. I decided that my tribute to him might suggest a single solitary figure standing in an undefined landscape and allow those who engage with him to imaginatively explore their own subjective experiences of the encounter. The work itself is only a medium for that encounter.
Artist Bio:
John Grech sees himself as a learner, artist, writer, and mentor, who works through words, actions, drawing, photography, painting, film, music and sound, and wood/furniture-making. He became interested in Japanese culture, art, and philosophy when he discovered the work of John Cage while at art school. Cage opened a door to many approaches that are key to his creative process such as the pursuit of imperfection, chance, randomness, minimalism, simplicity, and chaos, all grounded in human happenstance. One of his recent works is a short film about the Japanese film director Yasujiro Ozu called ‘Time and Endurance’ (2024).