MAKIBARA Ishigoro
槙原石五郎
Born: 10 October 1886 – Died: 1 May 1945
Particulars:
Ishigoro was born in Harada Mura, Mitsuke Gun, now Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. He first arrived in Rubibi / Broome, Western Australia in 1914. He returned to Japan once in 1920. He was a single man working as an engineer in the pearling industry in Garramilla / Darwin when the Pacific War broke out. He was taken to Adelaide River in the Northern Territory, then shipped to be interned at Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia.
In 1943, when the Australian authorities reclassified civilians who worked at sea as prisoners of war, many protested, as did Ishigoro, who refused to sign the official papers. He was transferred to Hay Internment Camp with other re-classified men. He died of tuberculosis at age 59. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery, Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Sue Pedley
More info:
Sue Pedley
Artist/s Statement:
The cyanotype (blue print) maps Makibara’s journey, remembering him as a free man working on the pearl luggers on the coast of Australia.
Artist Bio:
Sue Pedley is recognised for her multimedia installations, large drawings and collaborations. These works explore colonisation, including her family history as convict settlers in Tasmania, Australia; the environmental degradation of water and its impact; and the intergenerational hurts of war.
She has a history of making artwork in Japan, participating in the Echigo Tsumari Art Triennial (2006, 2018) and Setouchi Triennial (2010), working closely with rural communities.
Further important artworks respond to Australia’s military and trading histories with Japan. In 2017 Sue was commissioned by Mosman Art Gallery to create a work in the T5 Camouflage Fuel Tank, marking 75 years since the World War II Japanese invasion of Sydney Harbour.
Other significant exhibitions include: ‘Photography: Real and Imagined’, National Gallery of Victoria (2023); ‘Line Work: Rivers in the Basin’ with Phaptawan Suwannakudt, Penrith Regional Gallery, Sydney (2021); ‘Patches of Light’, with Peggy Pedley, Queen Victoria Art Museum and Gallery, Tasmania (2019); ‘Tracing Water’, with Iwaki Kazuya, Echigo Tsumari Museum, Japan (2018); ‘Blue Jay Way’, Heide Museum of Contemporary Art and Penrith Regional Gallery (2007).
Australia Council residencies include Vietnam (2008), London (1993), France and Germany (1985); and an Asia Link residency in Sri Lanka (2001). Other residencies are Tebajima, Tokushima, Japan (2024); Bundanon Trust, NSW (2016); Tokyo Wonder Site (2012); Redgate Studio Residency, Beijing (2011); and Banff Art Centre, Canada (2007).