Written by Sam Frederick
This month’s treasure highlights the work of artist Marlene Howell and one of her paintings that is now housed at the NNMCC. This watercolour and charcoal painting titled Beneath My Dignity was created by Marlene for her exhibition, “A Series for Contemplation”, in conjunction with The Lost Fleet exhibition held at the Maritime Museum of British Columbia in 2019. The exhibition, on loan from the Vancouver Maritime Museum, explored the stories of Japanese Canadian fishermen on the BC Coast and the confiscation of nearly 1200 Japanese Canadian owned boats by the Canadian Navy during the Second World War.
Marlene’s paintings for this exhibition came out of her work as Artist in Residence for the Maritime Museum of BC. Using historic photographs as inspirations and research from Landscapes of Injustice, her paintings illustrate this history of forced dispossession. Beneath My Dignity depicts two Japanese Canadian fishing boats being towed away, one that has sustained damage from the towing that is causing it to sink.
Many of the boats confiscated by the Canadian government were damaged beyond repair or sunk due to the inexperience of the naval personnel. Other boats were forcibly sold off at far lower than market prices to canneries and non-Japanese fishermen.
Marlene’s current project is entitled “To See is to Remember”, which is based on the lives and memorabilia of Japanese Canadians during the 1940s and early 1950s. Several of her paintings from this series are currently on display as part of Umami: Savouring Artistic Nikkei Identity, Part 2, in the Karasawa Gallery at the NNMCC in Burnaby, BC. Umami Part 2 features seven artists of Japanese ancestry and will run until September 27, 2025.
Explore more from our collections at nikkeimuseum.org.
