HORITA Matsujiro
堀田松次郎
Born: 10 May 1880 – Died: 10 February 1945
Particulars:
Matsujiro was born in Gifu Prefecture in Japan. He was a farmer in Pouébo, Kanaky / New Caledonia when the Pacific War broke out. He was married to a local woman Lucie, and had one son and two daughters who were left behind when he was taken to Australia. He was first interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales but later transferred to Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia. He died at the age of 64. The cause of his death is not recorded in documents held at the National Archives of Australia. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Emily Kerr and Simon Thornton
Artist/s Statement:
Horita san was from Gifu prefecture, my favourite place in Japan. It is a beautiful mountainous region, and I try to imagine how his life as a farmer would have changed moving from Gifu to settle in New Caledonia, and raise a family there. Or stranger still, how it changed when he was separated from his wife and three children in his 60s, and transported to Australia. For this image I was inspired by the stone sculptures that appear along old roads in Japanese mountain landscapes, watching over travellers. This small community of stone people wear porcelain cloaks textured with the fabric of old Japanese workman’s clothes from Gifu. It is my attempt to make something familiar and comforting from an unfamiliar landscape.
Artwork was photographed by Simon Thornton.
Artist Bio:
Emily Kerr and is a ceramic artist working with porcelain and high-fired stoneware clays on Ngunnawal Country in Canberra, Australia and Simon Thornton enjoys capturing the balance and arrangement of light and objects in the spaces defined by the lens.