:: DOR :: Emerging Radiance: Honoring the Nikkei Farmers of Bellevue

:: DOR ::
Emerging Radiance: Honoring the Nikkei Farmers of Bellevue 

By Janelle Wetzstein
NAP Contributor

On February 19, the Day of Remembrance for Japanese American incarceration, the City of Bellevue partnered with the King County Library System to unveil Emerging Radiance. It is an art installation and audiovisual experience created by Michelle Kumata and Tani Ikeda. The unveiling took place at Bellevue Library, where the city’s newest art acquisition will be on display for at least two years. Local elected officials, dignitaries and elders from the Japanese American community joined the artists and attendees for an evening celebrating Bellevue’s diversity and strength.

Artists and community members gather in front of the Emerging Radiance farmhouse at Bellevue Library: Alice Ito, Tani Ikeda, Michelle Kumata, Angie Miraflor, James To, Beth Takekawa, Janice Deguchi, Robert Hirotaka. Photo credit: City of Bellevue 

During the event, Bellevue City Councilmember Dave Hamilton expressed his deepest gratitude to the artists for bringing these stories to life, and to the King County Library System for its partnership in sharing this important history with our community. “Through this work,” said Hamilton, “we reaffirm that Bellevue’s strength comes from its people, past, present and future.

Emerging Radiance was originally commissioned through the Meta Open Arts Program*. It is a small farmhouse with murals featuring Bellevue residents on each side. The installation uses augmented reality technology and allows visitors to hear recordings and watch animated illustrations. It is about real Bellevue farmers from the first half of the 20th century. Toshio Ito, Rae Matsuoka Takekawa and Mitsuko Hashiguchi share their connections to the land before the war, during the incarceration and post-World War II. These first-person accounts were created and preserved by the Densho Project**.

“The skin tones are shades of gold and yellow to convey reverence and honor for these individuals and the Japanese American farming community,” said artist Michelle Kumata. “The color also represents how these people were viewed and targeted at that time, and how we – Asian Americans – continue to be viewed and targeted as yellow people and forever foreigners. Yellow represents how we own our unique cultures, heritage and history. We embrace the beauty of being different.”

An interactive website augments the reality experience of Emerging Radiance. Also, a documentary film about the artwork is currently available on the site at: https://www.emergingradiance.org/.