TADAIMA: I'm Home

Bringing Seattle’s Boys’ and Girls’ Day Dolls Home

Opening February 14, 2026

MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry)

I have spent 2025 curating an exhibit and creating a commissioned painting and community artwork display that will be on view February 14 to April 26, 2026.  ***EXTENDED to July 12, 2026!***

Image: Detail of Tadaima by Miya Sukune, 2026. Oil on wood.

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About the exhibit:

After more than 80 years, a treasured collection returns “home” to Seattle’s Japanese American community. In 1942 dozens of traditional Boys’ and Girls’ Day dolls were entrusted to Bailey Gatzert Elementary School by Japanese American families facing forced incarceration. Most were never reclaimed after the war. Artist Miya Sukune uses recent research in MOHAI’s collection, as well as interviews with Japanese American survivors and their descendants, to create an installation called “Tadaima,” meaning “I’m home.”​

 

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Day of Exile event

 

​​​​​​​​​​Remember (Day of Exile 1941) by Miya Sukune, 2026. Metal and granite.

Public art memorial commissioned by Friends of Mukai installed at Ober Park, Vashon, WA. 

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Unveiling event May 16, 2026, 11am at Ober Park. [In case of rain, event will be held at Vashon Library beside Ober Park.]

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Thank you to the Sakai and Matsuda families for sharing their stories.

Support provided by T-Mobile Hometown Grant, Friends of Mukai, Metal Creature, Vashon-Maury Heritage Museum and Vashon Park District.