KUSANO Masu
Born: 16 August 1882 – Died: 18 May 1943
Particulars:
Masu, also known as None, was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. She arrived in Garramilla / Darwin in 1901. She moved to Waibene / Thursday Island, Queensland. She lived in Australia for 35 years. As a single working woman, she had modest savings and some furniture when captured and transported to Tatura Internment Camp in Victoria. She died at the age of 60 in Tatura on Yorta Yorta Country. Her grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mari Suzuki
More info:
Mari Suzuki
Artist/s Statement:
Thursday Island was the hub of the pearling trade in tropical far north Queensland. None was 19 when she arrived in Australia. The rigid Japanese fan or uchiwa is made of paper and bamboo. None must have spent many nights fanning herself in the heavy tropical evenings.
The fan is familiar to me. When I was the leader of the Tachibana Dance Group in Sydney, I used the fan as a dancing prop during performances.
Artist Bio:
Mari Suzuki is a fourth-generation Japanese Australian whose parents and family members were born on Thursday Island in Queensland, Australia, and were interned at Tatura Interment Camp in Victoria during the war.