The Suitcase Project

This mini-exhibit explores cultural identity and dispossession in the context of Japanese Canadian and Japanese American internment during the Second World War, including some personal stories and artefacts from past and present Steveston residents.

The Suitcase Project asks yonsei and gosei (fourth and fifth generation) Japanese Canadians and Americans what they would pack if uprooted from their homes in a moment’s notice.

While these descendants of the internment and incarceration may never have to endure the same forced uprooting as their ancestors, Kayla Isomura’s work examines how they, and those descended from families who experienced other forms of discrimination, remain affected by this history today through a series of photographs and interviews.