The family is our closest reality. But while you may have been told or may have heard about eras and events before you were born, coming from a close relation there may have been things they couldn’t tell you, or things you wanted to know but couldn’t bring yourself to ask. Through the example of a family that includes someone with direct experience of war, this exhibition provides a forum for display and dialogue that organizers hope will encourage people to think about legacy within a family.

Seventy-four years have passed since the war in question ended. That the number of people who lived through it is getting smaller also means that soon there won’t be any opportunity to pass on wartime stories across generations through the voices of those who experienced war directly. The family is our closest framework for communicating experiences to the next generation.
This is the city that experienced the Bombing of Tokyo firebombing raid. Within the city’s countless homes, one wonders how family members have been told about this and other wartime experiences, and how the stories have been received. What hasn’t been told, and what has been left out?

For this exhibition, the children and grandchildren of someone with personal experience of the war discuss with exhibition organizers what they still want to find out or ask at this point in time, and the family member is then interviewed. Organizers hope this will generate new narratives as a practice, and demonstrate the work itself of passing family memories and stories down, encouraging visitors to join them in giving more thought to the issue of legacy for the future.

*This project is being implemented as part of Tokyo Art Research Lab’s Research & Development program, “Research Assemble 1: Art as a technique to face up to disaster.”
*The program is subject to change.