Beta Vulgaris: The Sugar Beet Projects

Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon, Landscape Wagashi, Courtesy of the artist

Beta Vulgaris: The Sugar Beet Projects

Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre, Burnaby, BC - Feb 10-May 27

by Robin Laurence

Kelty Miyoshi McKinnon creates a sculptural installation entirely out of molten, burnt and sculpted sugar. With visual allusions to a Japanese rock garden and a field of sugar beets, Beta Vulgaris calls up our country’s shameful wartime history. During this period, Japanese Canadians were displaced from the British Columbia coast and interned, many of them then forced to labour on sugar beet farms on the Prairies. The installation includes video
projections of historic images and a koto soundscape by Keri Latimer.

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