SAFE | HOME 

October 26, 2021 – April 30, 2022

Gallery hours

Tuesday-Saturday
10am-5pm

Fundraising tee shirts by Kellen Hatanaka

Customizable t-shirts designed by artist Kellen Hatanaka. Choose between two exclusive styles featuring Kellen’s artworks: ‘SAFE HOME’ and ‘Pride of Powell Street,’ each available in two fabric options and a wide selection of colours. A fashionable way to support Japanese Canadian art, and to collect a piece of art in its own right.

Through the lens of the historic Vancouver Asahi baseball team, contemporary Canadian artist Kellen Hatanaka explores issues of race, xenophobia, representation, and implicit bias that are relevant in both sport and society today.

Interpreted in contemporary painting, and sculpture, all primarily working with paper, his visual stories offer both warning and help to erase thinking and behaviours that continue to exclude minority groups. Hatanaka re-imagines the influence and importance of the Vancouver Asahi through yonsei (4th generation) eyes. 

Adjacent to this contemporary installation is a heritage corner drawing on the NNMCC archives to round out the historical story of the Vancouver Asahi.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.

Artist bio

Kellen Hatanaka is a Japanese Canadian artist from Toronto currently living and working in Stratford, Ontario. His multidisciplinary practice is focused on painting and sculpture tackling issues of identity and the Asian Canadian experience. He has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been published in Victory Journal, ArtMaze magazine and Graphite Journal among others. In 2016 he was awarded the Governor General’s Award along with Jon-Erik Lappano for their book, “Tokyo Digs a Garden.”

Virtual exhibit opening event

Curator Sherri Kajiwara in conversation with artist Kellen Hatanaka. This event was presented live on October 23, 2021.