UEYAMA Sensuke
上山仙助
Born: 15 January 1902 – Died: 5 January 1946
Particulars:
Sensuke was born in Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. He arrived on Waibene / Thursday Island, Australia in 1931. He was a pearl diver. He was interned at Hay Internment Camp in New South Wales. In May 1943, he was re-classified from a civilian internee to a prisoner of war with other merchant seamen because of their knowledge of waterways. Many protested against this re-classification, and refused to sign documents. He was admitted to the camp hospital with a cerebral haemorrhage early in January 1946, and died that day aged 43. His grave is in the Japanese Cemetery in Cowra, New South Wales in Australia.
–Mari Suzuki
More info:
Mari Suzuki
Artist/s Statement:
Pearl divers often used discarded shells for carving to fill in time. This gold lipped shell is carved and polished by a pearl technician in the Torres Strait. Below it is a discarded pearl blister. The rich gold and black colours signify the economic riches that were the supposed outcomes of the pearl shell trade.
Artist Bio:
Mari Suzuki is a fourth-generation Japanese Australian whose parents and family members were born on Thursday Island in Queensland, Australia, and were interned at Tatura Interment Camp in Victoria during the war.