My Story Gallery
RPM's "My Story Gallery" shares extraordinary stories of "ordinary" residents through multi-media exhibits. Upon viewing the exhibit, RPM encourages visitors to share their comments or reflections via interactive stations which may include: recording booth, community story wall, photography workshops, etc. The My Story Gallery was made possible by a gift from Philip and Marlene Glotfelty.
Calumet Through Annie's Eye's
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The creation of this exhibit was sparked through Real People Media's participation in the 2022 Michigan Read and RPM's tour, “Calumet Through Annie's Eye's.” The exhibit will include vintage photographs of Calumet selected from the Agnez collection. These photos, which have never before been displayed, will be selected for their ability to illustrate the social and economic disparity between the classes within Calumet.
The exhibit will also include 10-15 photographs taken by documentary photographer Nate Bett. Using the aforementioned photographs as a guide, workshop participants will take their own photographs illustrating the social and economic concerns in Calumet today. Photo left.:Activist Ella Reeves Bloor and Ana "Big Annie" Klobuchar Clemenc on a speaking/fundraising tour in Ohio. |
Related Programming
"1913 Massacre" -
The documentary, “1913 Massacre,” captures the last living witnesses of the 1913 tragedy. The film reconstructs Calumet’s past from individual memories, family legends and songs, tracing the legacy of the tragedy to the present day, when the town –out of work, out of money, out of luck — still struggles to come to terms with this painful episode from its past.
Following the film there will be a Q&A via zoom with filmmakers: Ken Ross and Louis V. Galdieri/ Topic for the evening include the effects of historical trauma and ethics and responsibility of the documentary filmmaker. This conversation is very important in our community as it is true the community still struggles with its history.
"1913 Massacre" -
The documentary, “1913 Massacre,” captures the last living witnesses of the 1913 tragedy. The film reconstructs Calumet’s past from individual memories, family legends and songs, tracing the legacy of the tragedy to the present day, when the town –out of work, out of money, out of luck — still struggles to come to terms with this painful episode from its past.
Following the film there will be a Q&A via zoom with filmmakers: Ken Ross and Louis V. Galdieri/ Topic for the evening include the effects of historical trauma and ethics and responsibility of the documentary filmmaker. This conversation is very important in our community as it is true the community still struggles with its history.
Calumet's Asian Immigrants
This exhibit will feature photographs and information about Calumet's Chinese immigrants. The exhibit will share stories gleaned from newspaper articles of the late 19th and early 20th century as well as information unearthed during a 2017 Archeological dig conducted by Michigan Tech University.
Background
At the turn of the century, Calumet was a bustling mining town comprised of immigrants speaking 33 different languages. Chinese immigrants were part of this diverse population although the story of these immigrants are not often represented in Calumet's narrative. There were several Chinese laundry's and confectionaries located within the village. In 1902 the Chinese Exclusion Act was made permanent. The law was the first, and remains the only, law to have been implemented to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating to the United States. The law would eventually be repealed in 1943. This law subjected anyone of Asian background living in the United States to discrimination and harassment. Chinese women had long been banned from entering the United States. In the exhibit we hope to share the narrative of Chinese immigrants in Calumet.
Background
At the turn of the century, Calumet was a bustling mining town comprised of immigrants speaking 33 different languages. Chinese immigrants were part of this diverse population although the story of these immigrants are not often represented in Calumet's narrative. There were several Chinese laundry's and confectionaries located within the village. In 1902 the Chinese Exclusion Act was made permanent. The law was the first, and remains the only, law to have been implemented to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating to the United States. The law would eventually be repealed in 1943. This law subjected anyone of Asian background living in the United States to discrimination and harassment. Chinese women had long been banned from entering the United States. In the exhibit we hope to share the narrative of Chinese immigrants in Calumet.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
This exhibit will invite the viewer to contemplate who is being excluded from participating in our community today. This exclusion may be based on laws, inadequate accessibility (i.e. someone in a wheelchair) race, skin color, gender, etc.
Community Wall
Participants to the exhibit will be invited to share their own experiences of exclusion on our “wall of comments” or by recording these experiences in our recording booth.
This exhibit will invite the viewer to contemplate who is being excluded from participating in our community today. This exclusion may be based on laws, inadequate accessibility (i.e. someone in a wheelchair) race, skin color, gender, etc.
Community Wall
Participants to the exhibit will be invited to share their own experiences of exclusion on our “wall of comments” or by recording these experiences in our recording booth.
Film/Speaker Series – by Kagan Goh
(KSC-Virtual Artist in Residence)
STOLEN MEMORIES is a detective story about filmmaker Kagan Goh's personal quest to return a photo album stolen from a Japanese Canadian family during the Japanese internment.
The filmmakers brother bought a photo album along with a framed photograph of a Japanese samurai warrior that once belonged to a Japanese Canadian family, at a garage sale for a mere $5 apiece. When his brother asked the Caucasian man who sold him the album how he had come to possess such a precious family heirloom, he replied indifferently that he found it in the attic collecting dust and he just wanted to get rid of it. The photographs are dated 1939. Three years before the Japanese internment. Kagan Goh, aided by Mary Seki, his 70-year old detective sidekick, embarked upon a quest to find the rightful owners, find out what happened to them and return their lost photo album to them. Documenting the search as well as redressing the wrongs of the past is a symbolic homecoming coming home in terms of returning to a place of self-acceptance, belonging, wholeness and healing.
(KSC-Virtual Artist in Residence)
STOLEN MEMORIES is a detective story about filmmaker Kagan Goh's personal quest to return a photo album stolen from a Japanese Canadian family during the Japanese internment.
The filmmakers brother bought a photo album along with a framed photograph of a Japanese samurai warrior that once belonged to a Japanese Canadian family, at a garage sale for a mere $5 apiece. When his brother asked the Caucasian man who sold him the album how he had come to possess such a precious family heirloom, he replied indifferently that he found it in the attic collecting dust and he just wanted to get rid of it. The photographs are dated 1939. Three years before the Japanese internment. Kagan Goh, aided by Mary Seki, his 70-year old detective sidekick, embarked upon a quest to find the rightful owners, find out what happened to them and return their lost photo album to them. Documenting the search as well as redressing the wrongs of the past is a symbolic homecoming coming home in terms of returning to a place of self-acceptance, belonging, wholeness and healing.
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Breaking the Silence by Kagan Goh (short)
Documentary about Akihide John Otsuji, a Japanese-Canadian man, who was unjustly imprisoned after the Japanese internment. His sister sets out on a quest to clear her brother's name and redress the wrongs of the past. Following the films, there will be a Q&A with filmmaker Kagan Goh who will share how his own immigrant experience shaped the creation of these films. The audience will be asked to consider America's internment policies. What policies exist today that are discriminatory? How can this be changed. |
About the filmmaker - Kagan Goh
Originally from Singapore, Kagan Goh is a Vancouver-based multidisciplinary Mad Artist: award-wining filmmaker, published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, mental health advocate and activist. He was diagnosed with manic depression at the age of twenty-three, in 1993. Kagan is a well-known spoken word artist, essayist and poet, a respected and established voice in Vancouver’s literary community for over two decades. He has been invited to perform at readings, festivals and on radio, and has published in numerous anthologies, periodicals, and magazines. In 2012, Select Books in Singapore published his poetic memoir, focused upon his relationship with his esteemed father, Who Let in the Sky? Kagan is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a number of releases including the award-winning Mind Fuck (1996); Stolen Memories (2012); Breaking the Silence (2015); and The Day My Cat Saved My Life (2021);; his films have been broadcast on national television and gained entry into respected film festivals across Canada.
Originally from Singapore, Kagan Goh is a Vancouver-based multidisciplinary Mad Artist: award-wining filmmaker, published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, mental health advocate and activist. He was diagnosed with manic depression at the age of twenty-three, in 1993. Kagan is a well-known spoken word artist, essayist and poet, a respected and established voice in Vancouver’s literary community for over two decades. He has been invited to perform at readings, festivals and on radio, and has published in numerous anthologies, periodicals, and magazines. In 2012, Select Books in Singapore published his poetic memoir, focused upon his relationship with his esteemed father, Who Let in the Sky? Kagan is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a number of releases including the award-winning Mind Fuck (1996); Stolen Memories (2012); Breaking the Silence (2015); and The Day My Cat Saved My Life (2021);; his films have been broadcast on national television and gained entry into respected film festivals across Canada.
My Story - Breaking Down Stigmas Related to Mental Health
Kagan Goh- Virtual Artist-in-Residence
This multi-media exhibit will include video installation of Goh's short film “The Day My Cat Saved My Life,” his photography exhibit: “Prodigal Songs of the Open Road,” and excerpts from his memoir, “Surviving Samsara”
In Kagan Goh’s debut memoir, he recounts his struggles with manic depression, breaking the silence around mental illness. From an honest and personal perspective, Surviving Samsara traces Goh’s experiences as he wanders through the highs of mania, the terrors of psychosis, and the lows of depression. From the welfare office to the hospital ward and many places in between, Goh struggles to discern the difference between mental health breakdowns and spiritual breakthroughs. Facing his experiences with courage and authenticity, Goh shares memories of family altercations, pushed to the brink of living on the street, and psychiatrist visits. He explores his diagnosis of bipolar mood disorder not only as a medical condition but as a spiritual emergence—a vehicle for personal growth, healing and transcendence.
With raw language and deep insight, he combats the societal stigma, prejudice and discrimination people with mental health challenges face on a daily basis, and exposes the further damage it can do. Writing and sharing his story of living with a mental illness began a form of self-therapy, and now illustrates Goh’s transformation from victim to survivor to activist. Surviving Samsara tells a deeply personal story of recovery, acceptance and unconditional self-love and humanizes the challenges of those living with mental illness.
Book Discussion of Surviving Samsara, Kagan Goh's
Real People Media invites community members to real Kagan's frank and touching memoir celebrating the resiliency of the spirit in the face of mental illness, psychotic breakdowns and stigma in society.”
Speaker Series – Copper Country Mental Health
Addressing the challenges faced by those with mental health issues.
Photos Exhibit: - Prodigal Songs of the Open Road.
Singapore-born artist Kagan Goh chronicles his return to Southeast Asia in 1992 when that region was just beginning to open up to the West. Living in exile in Canada, the trip was an attempt for Goh to connect with his past, yet he's still must confront feelings of hiraeth, defined as: a homesickness for a home which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the yearning , the grief for the lost places of our past.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Photography Workshop.
Online virtual Zoom Q & A with photographer with adults and kids talking about themes of home, exile, and search for belonging. Through an online and in person workshop, Goh will lead participants in documenting one's hometown environment with fresh eyes. Participant photographs will become part of the exhibit.
In Kagan Goh’s debut memoir, he recounts his struggles with manic depression, breaking the silence around mental illness. From an honest and personal perspective, Surviving Samsara traces Goh’s experiences as he wanders through the highs of mania, the terrors of psychosis, and the lows of depression. From the welfare office to the hospital ward and many places in between, Goh struggles to discern the difference between mental health breakdowns and spiritual breakthroughs. Facing his experiences with courage and authenticity, Goh shares memories of family altercations, pushed to the brink of living on the street, and psychiatrist visits. He explores his diagnosis of bipolar mood disorder not only as a medical condition but as a spiritual emergence—a vehicle for personal growth, healing and transcendence.
With raw language and deep insight, he combats the societal stigma, prejudice and discrimination people with mental health challenges face on a daily basis, and exposes the further damage it can do. Writing and sharing his story of living with a mental illness began a form of self-therapy, and now illustrates Goh’s transformation from victim to survivor to activist. Surviving Samsara tells a deeply personal story of recovery, acceptance and unconditional self-love and humanizes the challenges of those living with mental illness.
Book Discussion of Surviving Samsara, Kagan Goh's
Real People Media invites community members to real Kagan's frank and touching memoir celebrating the resiliency of the spirit in the face of mental illness, psychotic breakdowns and stigma in society.”
Speaker Series – Copper Country Mental Health
Addressing the challenges faced by those with mental health issues.
Photos Exhibit: - Prodigal Songs of the Open Road.
Singapore-born artist Kagan Goh chronicles his return to Southeast Asia in 1992 when that region was just beginning to open up to the West. Living in exile in Canada, the trip was an attempt for Goh to connect with his past, yet he's still must confront feelings of hiraeth, defined as: a homesickness for a home which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the yearning , the grief for the lost places of our past.
RELATED PROGRAMMING
Photography Workshop.
Online virtual Zoom Q & A with photographer with adults and kids talking about themes of home, exile, and search for belonging. Through an online and in person workshop, Goh will lead participants in documenting one's hometown environment with fresh eyes. Participant photographs will become part of the exhibit.
