SANO Yasumasa
Born: 23 March 1896 – Died: 18 April 1942
Particulars:
Yasumasa was born in Shizuoka Prefecture in Japan. He was a widower with one daughter, who was living in Hirosaki in Aomori Prefecture, Japan. He was working as a mechanical engineer in Padang, Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, when the Pacific War broke out. He was taken to Australia and interned at Loveday Internment Camp in South Australia. At the age of 46, not long after being interned, he died of tuberculosis. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery, Cowra, New South Wales, Australia.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
Marcus Grandon
Artist/s Statement:
Born in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan, home to Mount Fuji, Mr Yasumasa Sano passed away at the Loveday Internment Camp in Australia. In many ways, I feel emotional connections to him. I make my home in Shizuoka as an immigrant to Japan, and I have travelled multiple times to Australia.
The image of Mount Fuji shown here was taken on what would have been Sano san’s 119th birthday. In addition, on a trip to Adelaide, Australia in 2024, I made ocean images in the area. It is on these waters leading to Adelaide where Sano san was brought to Australia by ship to be interned at Loveday. Had Sano san looked out the window while detained aboard the SS Cremer, the ship that brought him to Australia, there is a possibility that he’d have seen the shores depicted in the ocean photo here.
The juxtaposition of these two images seems to contain symbolic meanings: the waves washing up on the shores perhaps representing Sano’s arrival in Australia as an internee. The waves, perhaps, also representing that last and most fleeting bit of freedom possibly felt before being locked away. In addition, the image of Mount Fuji may represent the meaningful place in Sano san’s heart that held the love for his family and home country, neither of which, after being interned, he’d ever again see.
Artist Bio:
Marcus Grandon is a multimedia artist, writer, musician, researcher, and educator. He’s a teaching fellow at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, and a university instructor in Japan. His artwork has been exhibited internationally and is in private collections around the world. Marcus travels frequently and makes his home in Shizuoka City, Japan.