The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is pleased to present the contemporary art installation Being Japanese Canadian: reflections on a broken world. Featuring works by eight Japanese Canadian artists from across the country, Being Japanese Canadian explores multi-generational responses to the exile, dispossession, and internment of Canadian citizens of Japanese descent during the 1940s. Designed as a series of artworks interspersed throughout the ROM’s Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada. “Being Japanese Canadian reflects on a period of Canadian history that is explored through the deeply personal narratives of eight contemporary artists grappling with the effects of the internment era,” says Josh Basseches, ROM Director and CEO. “This compelling artistic examination of our shared national history furthers the discussion on multiculturalism and belonging in today’s society.”

This installation is a collaboration between curators from the ROM and the Japanese Canadian community: Dr. Heather Read, Rebanks Postdoctoral Fellow in Canadian Decorative Arts & Material Culture at the ROM, and Dr. Arlene Gehmacher, the ROM’s Curator of Canadian Paintings, Prints & Drawings, worked with Bryce Kanbara, artist and Gallery Curator at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (JCCC) in Toronto, and Dr. Katherine Yamashita, arts educator and Art Committee member at the JCCC.