Currently a Senior at Stony Brook University, mainly focusing on photography and film, I can say that coming to college during the pandemic is easily one of the most intimidating things on my list. There was limited access to various areas and higher restrictions on activities, which only made it harder to make friendships. Trying out various clubs and organizations, I stumbled into Taiko Tides, a local Taiko group at Stony Brook University. This group was small, a mere four people group The community created by this group could not be found in the other clubs and organizations. Though the club was on its last legs, the club was revived as more and more people decided to join. Talking to the advisors for the club, it was learned that Taiko was an art that was heavily used in Japan, though modernized over time, and eventually was brought over to the United States through a wave of immigrants who were missing home. However, due to various causes such as World War II, in which the Japanese were held captive in containment camps, the authentic Japanese culture would slowly die out as an attempt to assimilate into American culture to prevent such events from beginning again. Hearing this story, I wanted to document the history of Taiko and to tell the tales of how Taiko came to be, so it would not be lost again.
CV