KAYO Kama
加陽蒲
Born: 1873 – Died: 25 October 1945
Particulars:
Kama was born in Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. He was a widower with a son in Higashionna in Okinawa. He also had one daughter. When the Pacific War broke out, he was working as a farmer in Anse Vata, Kanaky / New Caledonia. He was taken to Australia and was first held at Gaythorne Internment and Prisoner of War Camp in Meanjin / Brisbane, then interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales. He was transferred again to Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia. He was admitted to the camp hospital a couple of months after the war ended, and was placed on the ‘dangerously ill’ list, but died four days later at the age of 72. The cause of his death was 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:
Karen Tengan Okuda
Artist/s Statement:
Learning about Kayo Kama and his journey to Australia from Okinawa, to New Caledonia, to Cowra, made me think about the Ryukyuan song 浜千鳥（ちじゅやー), a song that sings nostalgically of Okinawa from the perspective of someone who has had to leave their homeland behind. It includes lyrics about looking up and seeing the same sky, no matter how far apart we are.
I created the artwork using photos I took in Okinawa, as well as stock images of Cowra and New Caledonia to create a collage of skies. I cropped the photos to make the location indistinguishable, inspired by the song, to portray our connection to our homeland no matter where we end up. The image of plants in the foreground represents Kama’s occupation as a farmer, though the image is distorted in colour to represent the hardships I imagine he went through in foreign lands, in internment, and in illness.
Artist Bio:
Karen Tengan Okuda is a second-generation Okinawan Australian, with ancestry from Gushikawa, Miyako Island, and Amami Oshima.