With Resilience: A Sansei Sense of Legacy touring the Pacific Northwest—currently on exhibition at the Japanese American Museum of Oregon, in Portland, and traveling next to the Washington Historical Society, in Tacoma—Seattle’s International Examiner published a review of Balancing Cultures, Jerry Takigawa’s book about his photo project.

“Balancing Cultures reimagines the family album, revealing unspoken truths in ordinary midcentury Japanese American family photographs
By Paul Mori, IE Contributor

“More often than not, there is a deeper meaning behind the smiles in photographs, especially in the age of film when each click of the shutter was so very precious. In Balancing Cultures, Jerry Takigawa draws out a kind of truth in ordinary midcentury Japanese American family photographs that the eye cannot see, but the heart knows to be true.

“Normally this truth is elusive, as it is difficult for a modern viewer to have a deep emotional connection with a decades-old, or even century-old, family portrait or snapshot; that feeling of distance cannot be shaken through the fog of time, especially with photos without personal connection. Balancing Cultures wants to change that, as well as the experience of viewing the photographic record of the Japanese American experience during the pivotal years brought on by WWII.”

Read the full article.

Purchase the Balancing Cultures book online:

Magenta Foundation

Japanese American National Museum

photo-eye Bookstore