Interior Revisited
Artist: Jin-me Yoon
Work ID: 85656
Description: The nature of making art means I’m continually striving to create something new. In that process, I seek to find the undiscovered by means of experimentation and risk-taking. Over time both the works and the thought processes evolve. This gradual change can result in looking at previously completed work in a different way. Interior Revisited is one such case in point. I had painted an initial version five years earlier, titling it simply "Interior." It was one of a series of paintings that addressed the 1940s internment of Japanese Canadians, which I myself experienced as a child. The word “interior,” to many of us, was synonymous with “internment camp” or just “camp.” “Where were you in the interior?” was—and for some still is—our way of connecting through shared understanding of that uprooting experience. Interior Revisited exemplifies my determination to convey my story and my identity as a Canadian of Japanese descent through my art. In this painting, the juxtaposition of a resident from a BC internment camp and that of the kimono-clad women from a 19th century ukiyo-e print underlines not just my own cultural heritage, but also the racial profiling that was at the heart of my experience in the 1940s.
Measurements: 122 x 183 cm
Collection: Royal Ontario Museum
Date Made: 2012
Materials: acrylic on canvas
Virtual Collection: Spring 2024
