Microphones & Brushes: An Exercise in Radical Engagement
Sach Takayasu
This thesis illustrates the narrator’s experience growing up in Japan during increasingly oppressive and dangerous times in the 1930s through the end of World War II in 1945 when neighbors and kempeitai (thought police) constantly monitored every move, air raids were intensifying, and citizens were resigned to sacrifice themselves to defend their country. Although Japan has since become peaceful and democratic, many people around the world continue to experience extreme oppression and war. Not having experienced war firsthand, the oral historian realized her limits in really connecting with the narrator’s experiences. So, in order to feel and see what the narrator experienced, they created paintings—together. This journey of depicting the essence of the narrator’s memorable moments using both microphones and brushes evolved the oral history interview into a practice of radical empathy.
Sach Takayasu graduated from Columbia University’s Oral History Master of Arts program in May 2022. At INCITE/Columbia Center for Oral History Research, she served as a Fellow and interviewer for the Obama Presidency Oral History Project. She continues to lead the Weatherhead East Asian Institute’s oral history project. She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College.