Henry Shimizu, Painting #3

November 19, 2011 – February 2, 2012

Legacy Maltwood (at Mearns Centre – McPherson Library)

In 1999, Dr. Henry Shimizu created a series of oil paintings based on his life as a teenager in the New Denver Japanese Internment Camp, BC, from 1942 to 1946. Images of Internment is an attempt to highlight the activities and lifestyle of the internees in this camp; they are the memories of a teenager and his friends.

According to Shimizu, despite isolation from mainstream Canadian Society during this time, the development of young Japanese Canadians progressed in almost the same pattern as any other Canadian teenager. One would have thought that this internment experience would have embittered this group and led to widespread despair and depression. Instead, says Shimizu, they came away from the experience more determined to be successful Canadians, contrary to the intention of those who promoted and carried out this injustice of internment and exile.