Emerging Radiance is one of the newest artworks in the City of Bellevue’s public art collection. Created by Tani Ikeda and Michelle Kumata, the installation is like a small farmhouse, with paintings on all four sides of Bellevue farmers of Japanese origin who lived here from 1920 until 1942, when they were forcibly uprooted by the federal government. They and 120,000 other Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.
A reception for the art, installed at the Bellevue Library in January 2025, will be held on the Day of Remembrance (Wednesday, Feb. 19), 5:30-8 p.m. at the library. Doors open at 5.
This artwork honors the often untold stories of Japanese American farmers who lived in Bellevue, clearing stumps to create rich farmland. Emerging Radiance will be at the Bellevue Library at least through February 2027.
An interactive website offers an audiovisual experience of Radiance. Visitors to the site can hear recordings of Bellevue farmers Toshio Ito, Rae Matsuoka Takekawa and Mitsuko Hashiguchi as they share their connections to the land before the war, during incarceration and post-World War II.