ABOUT HAYASHI STUDIO

In Hayashi Studio we investigate Senjiro Hayashi's photos through five chapters: The Anthropologist, The Curator, The Subject, The Descendants and finally The Photos themselves. Laura Cuthbert, our anthropologist, first tells us of her trips to Cumberland, looking for history of Chinese mining and communities, realizing that most of the photos you see of Asian miners in BC were taken in this one spot, Cumberland, and investigating why. Next we meet Grace, who curated the photos, with her research and work the photos traveled across Japan and North America, showcasing, not only a Japanese photographer, but all of the diverse communities in Cumberland. Next we meet Douglas Sadao Aoki, the grandson of two of Hayashi's favourite subjects, Mr. & Mrs. Aoki who ran the Cumberland Japanese Language School, we bring Douglas to the Japanese Graveyard and Townsite, and then to where the school where his grandparents lived and worked, where his father grew up, once stood. There he reflects on coming to a place with such meaning for his family, for the first time. We then meet Hayashi's descendants and the descendants of another photographer who took over the business, Mr. Matsubuchi. Lastly we connect our subjects with the glass plate negatives and reflect on a past we so rarely get to learn about the 60 years of Japanese Canadian life before internment.