Photographs – Tsunagu/Connect: The Exhibition

Photographs of Tsunagu/Connect: The Exhibition, photographed by Ikin Yum.

Informed by over 30 interviews with Japanese women who moved to the UK since 1945, Tsunagu/Connect: The Exhibition gives an insider’s view of what life was like for these fearless pioneers.

Taking place in Hub Space at Barbican Arts Centre and in  Council Chamber at Shoreditch Town Hall as part of Tsunagu/Connect Live, this exhibition exploring themes of culture, preconceptions, and belonging, revealing the joys and struggles, triumphs and hardships of creating a new life in a foreign land. Their stories will amaze, shock and entertain, upending tired stereotypes of Japanese women.

Featuring personal objects and interactive audio, this exhibition is an intimate glimpse into the worlds of these women and poses a vital question: “What price must we pay to create a third space, neither one nation nor the other, where we finally have room to be ourselves?”

Tsunagu/Connect was made possible by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England. Supported by The Japan Society, Museum of London, artsdepot, London Metropolitan Archives, Goldsmiths University of London, The Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation and Shoreditch Town Hall.