Interview with Edna Eguchi Read
A filmed interview with Edna Eguchi Read in September 1997. During it Edna talks about how her childhood helped to influence her artistic career. She recalls how her half English, half Japanese heritage profoundly affected herself and her brother Ian growing up because of the tension between Japan and England during the Second World War. Edna’s father was sent back to Japan and she never saw him again. She also talks about starting the City Gallery in Milton Keynes, being invited to Venice, the importance of Campbell Park and her new life as an artist.
The interview was filmed in Edna’s home, this is evident because of the family photographs she had beside her of her parents, the personal décor of which also consisted of three Chinese dolls that Edna presumably played with as a child.
The cameraman Tony interacts with the interviewer, John Hemson, and Edna Read regularly.
The film starts with showing Edna sitting in her chair and the interview mostly maintains this shot, whilst never showing Tony or the interviewer. It has been edited.
The interview lasts 21 minutes and is followed by close ups of the photographs of Edna’s parents and of another image, this time of an older man which could possibly be Edna’s father or grandfather. The shot switches to a close up of a Chinese doll, the camera then pans down to a close up of a smaller Chinese doll, then zooms in on the larger doll and the camera moves down and up to highlight the oriental garments. The camera continues to explore Edna’s home where the film shows small army like figures, small oriental figures, then what appears to be a framed drawing of Edna when she was younger. The camera then cuts to another framed drawing of what appears to be Edna at an older age. The film then changes to a still of a stone archway for the final shot.
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