Cindy Mochizuki (born 1976) is a multimedia Japanese Canadian artist based in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. Through 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. Mochizuki's works have been exhibited in multiple countries including Japan, the USA, and Canada. Mochizuki received MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the School For Contemporary Arts at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

in 2006. She received Vancouver's Mayor's Arts Award in New Media and Film in 2015 and the VIVA and Max Wyman awards in 2020.

Background

Mochizuki's grandparents, who settled in the Fraser Valley in

Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...

as strawberry farmers in the early 1900s. They were uprooted during

WWII World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and forced into Japanese Internment Camps in inner BC from 1942 to 1946. After the war, her family chose to be repatriated to Japan before they return to Canada become a background theme of her works frequently.

Selected projects

''Autumn Strawberry''

''Autumn Strawberry'' (Summer 2019) was a research project conducted during Mochizuki's artist residency at Surrey Art Gallery. Including Mochizuki's paternal grandparents, many Japanese Canadians worked in strawberry farms in Fraser Valley, which lands were confiscated by Canadian Government during wartime. The project resulted in a creation of two-channels animated film, which to be shown in 2021.

''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 A is the Japanese cuisine, Japanese iteration of a single-portion take-out or home-packed meal, often for lunch. Outside Japan, it is common in other East and Southeast Asian culinary styles, especially within Chinese cuisine, Chinese, Korean c ...

'') that incorporate their personal stories and wellness philosophies. Other members could order those lunch boxes in exchange of gifts to seniors who made those "culinary sculpture."

''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 are a style of Japanese playing cards. They are typically smaller than Western playing cards, only , but thicker and stiffer. On the face of each card is a depiction of plants, ''tanzaku'' (短冊), animals, birds, or man-made objects. One single ...

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.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

* Autumn Strawberry (2021),

Surrey Art Gallery Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Sur ...

, Surrey, BC * ''The Sakaki Tree, A Jewel and The Mirror'' (2020) - Burrad Arts Foundation, Vancouver, BC * ''Cindy Mochizuki: Cave to Dream'' (2019) - Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC * ''Things on the Shoreline'' (2017) - Access Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Selected group exhibitions

* ''Stories that Animate Us'' (2021) -

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

, Vancouver, BC * ''Where Do We Go From Here?'' (2021) ''-''

, Vancouver, BC * ''The Pandemic is a Portal (2020) -'' SFU Galleries, Vancouver, BC * To talk to the worms and the stars (2017) - The New Gallery, Calgary, AB * ''Absence in Remembrance: The Japanese Canadian Internment (2016) - Franc Gallery,'' Vancouver, BC curated by Kristine Olson * ''To , From BC Electric Railway 100 Years'' (2010) - Centre A Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art curated by Makiko Hara and Annabel Vaughan

Other projects

* ''テンサイ (Tensai) by Cindy Mochizuki and Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon,'' Winnipeg Art Council

Publications

''K is for Kayashima: Rock, Paper, Scissors''

This book was created after her research in

Yonago is a Cities of Japan, city in western Tottori Prefecture, Japan, facing the Sea of Japan and making up part of the boundary of Nakaumi, Lake Nakaumi. It is adjacent to Shimane Prefecture and across the lake from its capital of Matsue. It is the p ...

Tottori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Tottori Prefecture is the least populous prefecture of Japan at 570,569 (2016) and has a geographic area of . Tottori Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture to the west, Hirosh ...

in Japan, where approximately 1,500 people migrated to British Columbia, Canada between 1895 and the onset of the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. The book contains an essay by a curator, Makiko Hara.

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''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mochizuki, Cindy 1976 births Living people Artists from Vancouver Canadian people of Japanese descent Canadian multimedia artists Canadian women artists