New West artist takes on new work in Tashme project

New West artist and graphic novelist PJ Patten has been extremely busy.

He’s fielding a move to his new home in the city, he’s constantly writing poetry and working on his visual art – winning awards for said art – and now he’s taking on new work around Tashme, the internment camp in the Sunshine Valley that housed thousands of Japanese-Canadians from 1942 to 1946.

“I met Matt Miwa and Julie Tamiko Manning from the Tashme Project Productions; it’s a verbatim play that toured around the country five, six years ago,” says Patten, who is half-Japanese. He says he was inspired by their performance, and the three ended up talking about a potential graphic novel adaptation.

The project is finally at a stage where they’ll be able to meet up for a few weeks, spend time by the Tashme camp, visit the museum – and get to writing. Patten compares the project to a version of Terrace House, a Japanese show that puts strangers from different walks of life together in a home for a period of time.

It’s typical for stories around Japanese-Canadian internment to be largely untold; many of the Nisei were reluctant to share, but eventually opened up to the production. Patten says Manning and Miwa discovered each of them had family members who ended up at Tashme.

“I’m really, really excited to be working with two other half-Japanese artists because I feel like people are at a point in time where they feel threatened by a loss of mediums. I feel like graphic novels are a good way to get around that,” Patten explains.

Patten’s previous work, Tower 25, recounts his journey of homelessness, addiction, trauma and eventual healing. The novel, which relies on the visuals of a faceless protagonist (with the exception of one page) and Patten’s handwriting, is the simple – yet effective – means by which he gets his themes and messages across.

“You’re just disarming [someone when they read it] – maybe it’s the combination of the imagery antennas, which is powerful, effective and accessible,” says Patten.

“I’m not sure what the Tashme Project is going to look like, if it’s going to look like Tower 25, or maybe it’ll just be some crazy multimedia project. I have a lot of ideas about it and we're going to spend two weeks together, so we’ll see how that goes.”

For Patten, every project he takes on is another way to connect to his Japanese roots. He says he’s working on learning Japanese, to help do that. Patten was born in Japan, and says every piece of work he’s taken on is a conduit to building a stronger link to his heritage.

“Yeah, it’s been busy lately – but there’s also been a, perhaps a slump because of life. And then, of course, trying to figure out what makes you money as an artist, which is crap. But then I rediscovered my grandmother’s stuff, her art and brushes a few years back.”

For Patten, moments like this – reconnecting to his now 97-year-old grandmother’s work – are examples of the little sparks that keep him going.

“It’s why I’m excited about the Tashme project. To spend July and August [with Miwa and Manning]. My work has to have meaning.”