HIGA Denzo
比嘉傳三
Born: 29 November 1881 – Died: 17 June 1943
Particulars:
Denzo farmed on the north coast of Kanaky / New Caledonia in Touho with his wife Lora, the daughter of a Kanak chief, and their eight children. After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Denzo was arrested because he was born in Okinawa. However, the farm wasn’t seized as most others’ property and possessions were, because everything had been put in Lora’s name. Denzo and Lora wrote to each other while he was incarcerated in Australia, until he died of a respiratory infection in the winter of 1943. He was 61. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Sophie Constable
More info:
Ayaka Ma
Artist/s Statement:
Denzo and my husband share a character in their names – 傳.
I imagine he was looking at the beach in New Caledonia, remembering an Okinawan beach, his hometown, and family. I sometimes feel that I really want to see the beach in Sydney, I feel like I can somehow connect to Okinawa when I’m looking at the sea. I felt that he may have had the same idea.
Artist Bio:
Ayako Ma is a mother of two children.