about
Kayla Isomura is a photojournalist based in Vancouver, B.C.* As a multigenerational settler of Chinese and Japanese descent, Kayla’s interest in storytelling has been largely influenced by their family’s story of displacement.
Through this lens, Kayla is often drawn to stories that focus on the intersections of identity, memory and place.
Most notably, Kayla produced The Suitcase Project, which made its debut at the Nikkei National Museum in 2018 and is currently touring. Their work has been published in The Tyee, Megaphone, and Briarpatch.
Kayla is a graduate of the journalism program at Langara College and most recently completed a diploma in photojournalism from Loyalist College.
Kayla recently completed a photography apprenticeship with the Globe and Mail.
*Kayla acknowledges that the area presently called Vancouver is within the traditional, ancestral, unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. As a descendant of settlers, they recognize the past and ongoing dispossession and displacement of Indigenous peoples. Within their own work, they aim to foster an inclusive framework and are dedicated to learning how to practice solidarity.

Photo by Tracy Moromisato.
exhibitions
2020
The Suitcase Project (solo)
Peace Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2019
Feasting for Change
Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre, Vancouver, B.C.
Journeying through Chinatowns
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Vancouver, B.C.
The Suitcase Project
Cowichan Performing Arts Centre, Duncan, B.C.
2018
The Suitcase Project (solo)
Nikkei National Museum, Burnaby, B.C.
awards
2018
Writing in the Margins, Briarpatch Magazine
First place: Photography category
selected press
2019
Radio interview, North by Northwest (CBC)
2018
“A people’s history of this land, through the travel trunks families carried on the move.” (Star Vancouver)
“It could happen today. These photos imagine Japanese internment in 2018.” (CBC)
“The Suitcase Project explores Japanese Canadian internment through the eyes of new generations.” (Burnaby Now)