KYOICHI Seihichi
京一清七
Born: 12 April 1895 – Died: 8 May 1945
Particulars:
Seihichi was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. He was a single man working as a tailor in Bourail, Kanaky / New Caledonia. He had a brother in Higashino Mura, Kamo Gun, Hiroshima Prefecture, now part of the City of Takehara. When the Pacific War broke out, he was taken to Australia and interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales but later transferred to Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia due to a camp reorganisation. He was admitted to the camp hospital three months before the end of the war but was later transferred to another hospital, where he died of haematemesis, aged 50. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Patrick Harrington
Artist/s Statement:
One day Seihichi was a tailor, the next he was an ‘enemy alien’. Highlighting one individual’s plight as an innocent victim of war has had a profound impact on me. In the image I attempted to convey Seihichi’s personal journey from Japan to New Caledonia – then under the flag and administration of France – and ultimately to Australia. His soul is symbolised by a crimson star in the Southern Cross constellation.
Artist Bio:
Patrick Harrington is a professor of linguistics at a university in Japan, and a part-time writer of fiction stories.