ONODA Rie
Born: About 1867 – Died: 9 May 1942
Particulars:
Rie / Riye was born in Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. She was widow and a domestic helper in Sumatra in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, when the Pacific War broke out. She was taken to Australia and sent first to a hospital in Adelaide, then interned in Tatura Internment Camp in Victoria. She was taken to hospital again but died at the camp, aged 75. Her grave is now in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Lucy Xu
Artist/s Statement:
Digital collage, using AI generated components
On 19 February 1942, an ailing Onoda Rie, 75 years of age, was processed at the Tatura Detention Camp. It was her first time in Victoria, but she was no stranger to new places. Born in Nagasaki, Onoda spent majority of her life in Sumatra. She would spend the last months of her life at Tatura, though I would like to imagine that her life’s imprints were made in her chosen homes of Nagasaki and Sumatra. So, to commemorate Onoda Rie’s life, I chose to highlight the cultures and identities that made her as an individual, when she had agency over her life’s path.
Artist Bio:
Lucy Xu is studying for her Master’s degree at The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. Her research projects focus on the complexities of identity – particularly among diasporic communities.