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For most of us, it’s one of our greatest fears: losing everything. In 1944, that became a reality for the Steveston-based Kobayashi family, not through a house fire, natural disaster, or financial ruination, but because of the Canadian government.

In some ways, the forebearers of Toronto multidisciplinary artist Alison S.M. Kobayashi even lost their identity. Her great-grandfather was born Kamekichi Kobayashi. When she began digging into the past to unearth his story, she discovered that, to the Canadian government, he became known as File No. 2304.

That provided an initial spark for her ongoing multidisciplinary project Electric Neon Clock , which she’ll be discussing at the Powe

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