Cindy Mochizuki

Cindy Mochizuki (born 1976) is a multimedia Japanese Canadian artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia.[1] In her drawings, installations, performance, and video works created through community-engaged and location-specific research projects, Mochizuki explores how historical and family memories are passed down in the form of narratives, folktales, rituals and archives.[2][3] Mochizuki's works have been exhibited in multiple countries including Japan, the United States, and Canada. Mochizuki received MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the School For Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University in 2006.[4] She received Vancouver's Mayor's Arts Award in New Media and Film in 2015[5] and the VIVA and Max Wyman awards in 2020.[6]

Cindy Mochizuki
Born1976 (age 46–47)
Known forArtist
Websitehttps://www.cindymochizuki.com/

Background

Mochizuki's grandparents, who settled in the Fraser Valley in Langley as strawberry farmers in the early 1900s. They were uprooted during WWII and forced into Japanese Internment Camps in inner BC from 1942 to 1946.[7] After the war, her family chose to be repatriated to Japan before they subsequently returned to Canada. This migration journey became a recurring theme in Mochizuki's artistic work.

Selected projects  

Autumn Strawberry

Autumn Strawberry (Summer 2019) was a research project conducted during Mochizuki's artist residency at Surrey Art Gallery. Many Japanese Canadians, including Mochizuki's paternal grandparents, worked in Fraser Valley on strawberry farms which were confiscated by the Canadian Government during the Second World War.[8] The project resulted in a creation of two-channels animated film, which was shown in 2021.[9]

Shako Club

Shako Club (2015), or "social club," was a community-based project conducted in Mochizuki's two-months artist residency at grunt gallery, Vancouver. In collaboration with a Japanese Community Volunteer Association, Tonari Gumi, the project focused on community bonding through cooking and sharing knowledge and story; seniors made unique lunch boxes (bento) incorporating their personal stories and wellness philosophies. Other members could order those lunch boxes in exchange of gifts to seniors who made those "culinary sculptures."[10][11]

Open Doors Project

Open Doors Project (2011) was a public art project taken place at the Powell Street Festival in 2011. Using Japanese card game, hanafuda as a visual inspiration, Mochizuki created sixteen panels as historic reference points of Japanese and Japanese Canadian people and their personal narratives. Each panel was placed each in front of a building, which used to host shops and institutions run by Japanese communities before WWII.[12]

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions
  • Autumn Strawberry (2021), Surrey Art Gallery, Surrey, BC[7][13][14][15]
  • The Sakaki Tree, A Jewel and The Mirror (2020) - Burrad Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC[16][17]
  • Cindy Mochizuki: Cave to Dream (2019) - Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC[18]
  • Things on the Shoreline (2017) - Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Selected group exhibitions

Other projects
  • テンサイ (Tensai) by Cindy Mochizuki and Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon, Winnipeg Art Council[21][22]

Publications

K is for Kayashima: Rock, Paper, Scissors

This book was created after her research in Yonago, Tottori Prefecture in Japan, where approximately 1,500 people migrated to British Columbia, Canada between 1895 and the onset of the Pacific War. The book contains an essay by a curator, Makiko Hara.[23][24]

Illustrations

Mochizuki's illustrations appear in West Coast Line, Front magazine, Alternatives Journal, and other illustrated books, such as Perpetual by Rita Wong and Things on the Shoreline.[25][26]

References
  1. "Koganecho Bazaar 2014, Artists". www.koganecho.net. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  2. "Artist Talk: Cindy Mochizuki". Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  3. "Insider Series: Cindy Mochizuki – BAF". Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  4. "K is for Kayashima: Rock, Paper, Scissors | Artspeak". Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  5. "Cindy MOCHIZUKI". Japanese Canadian Artists Directory. 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2020-03-20.
  6. "VIVA and Max Wyman awards for 2020 go to five B.C. artists and writers". The Georgia Straight. 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  7. "Cindy Mochizuki's Autumn Strawberry reaps harvest of memories before Japanese Canadian internment". The Georgia Straight. 2021-07-26. Retrieved 2022-03-14.
  8. "Japanese Canadian Settlers of Maple Ridge". Maple Ridge Museum. Retrieved 2023-04-28.
  9. Surrey, City of. "Cindy Mochizuki: Autumn Strawberry". www.surrey.ca. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  10. "Shako Club". The Bulletin. 2015-06-03. Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  11. Wong-Mersereau, Amelia (2020). "Cindy Mochizuki". Esse Arts + Opinions (in French) (98): 72–77. ISSN 0831-859X.
  12. 西村, 龍一; 西村, 美幸 (2014-09-26). "「呼びかけと応答」 : 日系カナダ人アーティスト、シンディ・モチズキのアート・アニメーションにおける「記憶」の表現". 国際広報メディア・観光学ジャーナル. 19: 3–20.
  13. "Powell Street Festival: Artist Henry Tsang peels back hidden Japanese Canadian history in Hastings Park". The Georgia Straight. 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  14. "'Invisible' Japanese-Canadian histories visible at Surrey Art Gallery this summer". Surrey Now-Leader. 2021-06-22. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  15. "Powell Street Festival pays homage to the spirits while advancing social justice and pushing artistic envelope". The Georgia Straight. 2021-07-28. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  16. Woodend, Dorothy (2020-01-22). "Howie Tsui's Art Thrillingly Skewers Propaganda in New Art Show". The Tyee. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  17. "Cindy Mochizuki: The Sakaki Tree". Galleries West. 2019-12-18. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  18. "Fall Arts Preview 2019 visual arts critics' picks: Striking shows to see across the region". The Georgia Straight. 2019-09-11. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  19. "Vancouver Art Gallery opens three exhibitions running from February 20 to August 22". The Georgia Straight. 2021-02-16. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  20. "The Vancouver Art Gallery's new exhibition asks: Where do we go from here?". The Georgia Straight. 2020-12-15. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  21. Strachan, Susie (2020-03-20). "Mar 2020: Art brightens new BLUE bus line". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  22. Lefebvre, Charles (2020-05-11). "The art marking Winnipeg's newest transit route". Winnipeg. Retrieved 2022-03-16.
  23. "K is for Kayashima: Rock, Paper, Scissors | Artspeak". Retrieved 2020-03-14.
  24. Ginnan, Alexander (2018-03-31). "Visual Culture, Representation, and Uranihon". グローバル日本研究クラスター報告書. 1: 148–169. hdl:11094/68061.
  25. Harbour Publishing: Cindy Mochizuki.
  26. Things on the Shoreline.
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