Emerging Radiance has recently found its semi-permanent home in the Bellevue Public Library, on the site of what was once Japanese American farmland from 1920 to 1942. The interactive farmhouse honors the stories of eight Japanese American farmers, including Rae Matsuoka Takekawa, Toshio Ito, and Kimitomo Muromoto.
“It is tricky to capture the tone of these stories, and the farmhouse installation does that well—as family leaders, not just victims, but whose sacrifices due to racism and government injustice are remembered today,” Takekawa’s daughter, Beth Takekawa, said.
Tani Ikeda and Michelle Kumata collaborated to create this installation, combining Kumata’s paintings with Ikeda’s Augmented Reality (AR) and creative directing to produce a full animation of these untold stories.
“The interviews were from my father’s [Tom Ikeda] 26-year-old archive, Densho, and many of those interviews were conducted by Alice Ito and people in Bellevue who were the deep connectors of the community in Bellevue,” Ikeda said.
Ikeda deeply studied the oral history archive and the mannerisms of the folks in the video interviews — the way they scrunched their faces and looked a certain direction when talking about something emotionally difficult.
“What was so funny was that so many of the descendants of the people [painted on the farmhouse] spoke at the opening and had some of the same expressions and cadences as their parents,” Ikeda said. “You could immediately feel the line in their family from how they moved and how they spoke.”
She translated these subtleties into the AR versions of these real people, bringing them back to life, in a way.
“Tani brought the passion, vision, and expertise to bring these stories to life through Augmented Reality, which adds a dynamic layer and depth to this work,” Kumata said. “The interviews were recorded in the mid-1990s, but when you hear the portraits speak, it feels as though they are talking to you directly.”
Alice Ito, who used to be on staff with Densho, is the daughter of Toshio Ito, one of the featured interview subjects. Excerpts from the oral history interviews she conducted were used in Emerging Radiance.
“At the time of the interviews, augmented reality technology wasn’t available, and we couldn’t have imagined how it would make use of the interviews in the form of something like Emerging Radiance,” Ito said. “It’s an example of the importance of recording and preserving history, particularly first-person narratives.”
Emerging Radiance is exemplary in its ability to show history as a living and dynamic force that impacts and informs today.
“Incorporating technology to bring back people’s loved ones in this particular art form: it’s important that this doesn’t feel like a cold or robotic replica of someone that’s passed, but has the warmth and familiarity of them. Something so beautiful about Michelle’s artwork is the warmth and inviting human touch she paints,” Ikeda said.
Kim Muromoto Jr., got to share the experience of seeing his father, Kimitomo Muromoto, painted on the farmhouse back in 2021, when it was installed at the Bellevue Arts Museum.
“I knew all these tidbits [about the incarceration], but I never really had a broad picture of what went on then and now and all the connections of Bellevue until this project came up,” Muromoto said. “It really gave me a historical second life and prompted me to do research about my and my dad’s past.”
Takekawa also shares the sentiment about the location of the installation, even with her and many other Japanese Americans’ complicated relationship to it.
“Due to the JA incarceration, I never lived in Bellevue myself. I have harbored a certain resentment against Bellevue for their actions against my mom and her family, and I appreciate this artwork being shared publicly in Bellevue today. Michelle and Tani portrayed Mom and her peers as larger than life, which is what they were to each of us in their families and community,” Takekawa said.
Descendants of the farmers, however, are not the only ones who can relate to the farmhouse; anyone who can relate to the sharing of food and culture and even seeds can be an active part of the installation.
“One of my favorite parts is that we did research into what strains of seeds the Nisei farmers used to farm, and Kitazawa Seed company helped to create these AR seed packets,” Ikeda said. “People will be able to see the Nikkei farmers tell their stories and plant those seeds in their own home garden.”
Viewers can then literally take the legacy of these farmers home with them and continue their growth from their own home gardens. The artists also held seed sovereignty workshops as another entry point into this history and these stories.
“Many communities have shared relationships with seed-keeping and foods that their parents had prepared. It provides an access point into the legacy of the stories within their own cultures. It provides an access point into the legacy of the stories within their own cultures. It provides a way to connect people from different communities through food that we grow and the land that we are on,” Ikeda said.
Emerging Radiance brings communities together through the artwork, the planting of seeds, and the understanding that the oppression of our systems necessitates solidarity between all marginalized communities.
“This work is not only for the Japanese American community. This work is for everyone,” Kumata said. “These are human stories that parallel current experiences of immigrant and migrant communities that are being unjustly targeted, rounded up, incarcerated and deported.”
With the increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids, subsequent protests, and heightening unrest the current administration has incited, some in the Japanese American community have felt an obligation to stand up against the parallel rhetoric, propaganda, and actions of the US government.
“When 9/11 happened, my dad said, ‘They’re going to do to these people the same thing they did to us,’” Ito said. “At the time, he was talking about Muslims and people perceived to be Middle Eastern. He was right. In 2001, our government used the treatment of Japanese Americans as a precedent for detaining people and suspending their rights and now is continuing to do this to even more people, as we see in current news.”
“Our community is in a different place than a lot of folks’ ability to be more politically outspoken, especially when this story is about immigration and discrimination,” Ikeda said. “There are so many parallels to what is happening to Haitian, Asian, and Latinx immigrants; our community knows exactly what it means. My dad says history doesn’t always repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
Emerging Radiance is currently on display at the Bellevue Public Library, 1111 110th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA 98004. Visit emergingradiance.org to learn more.
