HIGA Matsugen
比嘉
Born: 26 May 1889 – Died: 14 February 1942
Particulars:
Matsugen was born in Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. He was a married man and working as a farmer in New Hebrides, now Vanuatu when the Pacific War broke out. His wife Beshi was left in Vanuatu while he was taken to Australia and interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales. He was taken to hospital a year later and died of colitis two weeks later. He was 52. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Larissa Kondo
Artist/s Statement:
Like many of the internees who did not survive their incarceration, there is very little available information about Matsugen Higa outside of his internment documents. Nonetheless, I wanted to create a piece that recognised him as more than just an internee. I represented him with words and a silhouette that stood tall and proud. I used a second silhouette to symbolise the wife he was taken from.
Artist Bio:
Larissa Kondo is an elementary school teacher, history enthusiast, and fourth-generation Japanese Canadian. Like Higa Matsugen, her grandfather was declared an ‘enemy alien’ and incarcerated in a prisoner of war camp during World War II. When Larissa remembers her grandfather, she sees much more than an internee. She imagines Matsugen’s family felt the same way.