Jo Anne Shiosaki and Michael Torres met with Mayu Kanamori over Zoom to discuss the artworks for internees who were captured in Rubibi / Broome.
Jo Anne is a descendant of the Shiosaki family of Rubibi / Broome. Her great grandfather served as the President of the Japan Club in Broome before the war. Michael Jalaru Torres is an Indigenous fine art photographer and poet from Rubibi / Broome who will photograph portraits of Rubibi / Broome’s Nikkei community members, each depicting an internee who died in the internment camps during WWII.
Rubibi / Broome has a long history with Japanese people who worked in Rubibi / Broome’s pearling industry. More than 200 Rubibi / Broome residents were interned during the war, including women and children. At least three Indigenous women, who had married Japanese men, and their children, were also interned. Most of the people were forcibly repatriated to Japan after the war, a handful were allowed to stay, and fourteen people, including Jo Anne’s great aunt Yasue Okamura (nee Shiosaki) died in the camps.
Jo Anne and Michael have been talking with community members, not only the Japanese and Nikkei peoples, but the wider Rubibi / Broome community, who are offering use props for the photo shoots, venues interested in exhibiting the photographs and of course, the Broome Historical Museum, who are right behind this project.
Jo Anne, Mayu and Michael on Zoom
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