Left to right: Leslie Anne Hook (MVTM Fund Development & Communications Coordinator), Charlotte Farmer (MVTM Treasurer), Michael Rikley-Lancaster (Executive Director/ Curator), Sara MacKenzie (MVTM board member), Piper Patterson (MVTM Collections Coordinator). Photo: Mississippi Valley Textile Museum
A new exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum is using fibre, sculpture and family history to tell a deeply personal Canadian story.
Three Generations, by Ottawa artist Judy Nakagawa, is now on display at the Almonte museum through Dec. 20.
Speaking with LanarkLeedsToday.ca’s Bob Perreault, Executive Director and Curator Michael Rikley-Lancaster said the exhibition follows Nakagawa’s family through three very different chapters.
The story begins with her grandparents immigrating to Canada, continues through her parents’ experience in Japanese Canadian internment camps and moves into Nakagawa’s own life today.
The work is presented through contemporary three-dimensional pieces rather than a traditional historical display.
For Leslie Anne Hook, who recently joined the museum’s team, one of her first experiences on the job was seeing the exhibition come to life.
Rikley-Lancaster told Perreault that exhibits like this give the museum an opportunity to share voices and experiences that have not always been given space in traditional historical settings.
He says visitors should expect something much different from a conventional museum display.
The visit can also extend well beyond *Three Generations*.
The museum’s second floor tells the story of the textile industry, the mill, its workers and the families whose lives were tied to it.
Hook admits she is still discovering that history herself.
Visitors can experience *Three Generations* at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum in Almonte until Dec. 20.
And whether they come for Nakagawa’s family story or the history upstairs, there is a lot more waiting behind those museum doors than they might expect.
Learn more about the exhibit and the museum here.
Listen to the full interview below.
