Informed by over 30 interviews with Japanese women who moved to the UK since 1945, the exhibition will give an insider’s view of what life was like for these fearless pioneers.

Exploring themes of culture, preconceptions, and belonging, Tsunagu/Connect: The Exhibition reveals the joys and struggles, triumphs and hardships of creating a new life in a foreign land. Their stories will amaze, shock and entertain, upending tired stereotypes of Japanese women.

Featuring personal objects and interactive audio, this exhibition is an intimate glimpse into the worlds of these women and poses a vital question: “What price must we pay to create a third space, neither one nation nor the other, where we finally have room to be ourselves?”

To fully interact with the exhibition, we ask that you bring a smartphone with compatible headphones.

Thu 15 Feb - Sat 23 Mar 2024
Barbican Centre
Silk Street, London
EC2Y 8DS

Over 60s Workshop: Recording Your Stories with Kay Stephens

The workshop will introduce the concept of ‘oral history’ and we'll discuss things to consider when asking and answering questions for the purposes of recording oral histories. As a group, we'll discuss and reflect on themes from the Tsunagu/Connect exhibition, and then you'll have a chance to record your own stories, using themes from the exhibition as prompts.

Family Workshop: Storymaking with Kazuko Hohki

A creative, interactive, family workshop for children and their parents/carers to enjoy together. As a family group, you'll be invited to bring along one object between you that is special to you and relates to your family history. Inspired by your visit to Tsunagu/Connect: The Exhibition, you'll uncover the world of the object - where it lives, what it likes to do, what it likes to talk about and how it might interact with other objects. Come and discover the imaginative world of your object through this storymaking workshop with artist and theatre maker Kazuko Hohki.