Just-released publication Enemy Alien covers Tamio Wakayama's remarkable photographic career
Edited by Paul Wong, Figure 1 Publishing release draws on the Japanese Canadian artist’s unpublished memoir, Soul on Rice
Enemy Alien
Photo by Tamio Wakayama featured in Enemy Alien.
Enemy Alien, the first publication devoted to Tamio Wakayama’s remarkable photographic career, has now been released. Edited by Paul Wong, the book details Wakayama’s life working alongside activist movements and in vibrant communities, from the civil rights–era American South to the Powell Street Festival here in Vancouver.
Wakayama was born in New Westminster mere months before Pearl Harbor, and was soon forcibly relocated to a Japanese Canadian internment camp. This early childhood experience of injustice shaped the rest of his life and practice.
The centrepiece of Enemy Alien is Wakayama’s unpublished memoir, Soul on Rice, which includes numerous photo spreads. Essays by Wong and Eva Respini provide broader context, while an interview with Mayumi Takasaki, Wakayama’s partner of 40 years, offers an intimate perspective.
Enemy Alien is co-published with the Vancouver Art Gallery in association with an exhibition of the same name, curated by Wong. Copies are available for purchase through Figure 1 Publishing.
Post sponsored by Figure 1 Publishing.
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