World War Bonsai: Remembrance & Resilience
Pacific Bonsai Museum’s special exhibition for 2020 and 2021, World War Bonsai: Remembrance & Resilience, traces the cultural practice of bonsai in location and time—in Japan and in the United States, from the pre-war WWII period, through wartime, amid incarceration, and at peace. With bonsai, artifacts, documents, and photographs, the exhibition shares the little-known stories of the people who ingeniously and courageously cared for bonsai, shared their art, and spurred a flourishing, global practice despite overwhelming hardships.
In this short documentary, Mirai visits the exhibit and speaks with museum curator Aarin Packard, and featured exhibit artist, Erin Shigaki to go deeper into the intention and perspectives behind their work, as well as the importance of continuing to confront the realities and residual damage of Japanese American incarceration during WWII.
Learn more about this often overlooked and under told part of bonsai history at:
https://pacificbonsaimuseum.org/on-view/exhibits/
What kind of ancestor do you want to be?
