Ancestral Dreams & Other Premonitions is an immersive experience that communicates real and imaginary realms. The multi-faceted projects Autumn Strawberry, 2021, and Tides & Moons: Herring Capital, 2022, focus on histories of food production in relation to marginalized Japanese labour in BC within the context of the Canadian government’s systematic racist policies and interment process during and after World War II (WWII). Autumn Strawberry shares stories of Nisei elders (second generation Japanese Canadians born and raised in BC) and their Issei parents, who had hopeful dreams of a new life in Canada. Set in both the past and future in an area once called Strawberry Hill or Chicken Mura, this installation re-imagines the experience of Japanese settler families prior to their internment during WWII, who made homes and livelihoods on the berry farms across the Fraser Valley in BC. Coming alive through a theatrical setting, Autumn Strawberry animates the stories of these Nisei elders who were children during the time their parents and grandparents had owned and worked on these farms. Stories of everyday life merge with a ghostly future world of trees and insects to convey an ominous sense of the complexities of these histories.
