UEDA Shotaro
上田商太郎
Born: 1878 – Died: 19 January 1942
Particulars:
Shotaro was born in Kagoshima Prefecture in Japan. He was a shopkeeper in Lumajang, East Java in the Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia, and is known to have lived previously in Sumatra. He died at sea en route to Australia, where he was to be interned. The ship he travelled on, the SS Cremer, was later described by surviving passengers as a ‘hell ship’. Shotaro was given a sea burial the day after he died. He was 63 or 64 years old.
–Mayu Kanamori
More info:
- Diary of SAITO Toshio, NAA Adelaide AP 613/1, 90/1/101
Mayu Kanamori
Artist/s Statement:
Unlike other internees, Shotaro Ueda is not buried at the Cowra Japanese Cemetery because he was given a sea burial. I wanted to use a photograph taken on the coast of the Sea of Japan with a beach and breakwater to give his name and spirit shelter from the rough seas beyond. I added a diary entry from a fellow passenger on the ship that tells us of Shotaro’s passing at about 10 pm, on a cold night. His friend had written Shotaro’s full name in full kanji characters. I have written his name in hiragana too.
Artist Bio:
Mayu Kanamori is a Japanese Australian artist working across mediums of photography, video, performance, and poetry.