Japanese American Art in the Internment Camp

The internment of over 120, 000 Japanese Americans during World War II remains one of the darkest moments in our country's history. As a result, the Japanese Americans were left with the burden of reconstructing, not only a home, but an identity. A large part of this reconstruction process included configuring and presenting a personal vision. The presentation of this personal vision came in the form of artistic expression. Through this art, the trama of incarceration and the hardships of their daily lives are brought to the attention of those people unaware of the circumstances in the camps. Some of the art shows the internee's confusion between their loyalty to the United States and their feeling of betrayal and hatred for being treated as aliens in their own country. It shows the pride they felt within and their deeply rooted connection to their culture and their past.

Artists such as Chiura Obata, George Hibi, Mine Okubo, and Kango Takamura, portrayed such feelings in their work. With the help of a few outside connections, camps such as the Tanforan Assembly Center in San Bruno, California, were able to provide art schools for these and other internees. These art schools gave both artists and non-artists an opportunity to deal with their feelings through creative expression. This creative expression was then presented to others in the form of art shows.

Although the Japanese Americans viewed their art as a positive way to escape the pain of the incarceration, once they left the camps, they left their art as well. It was too painful for most of these internees to carry these memories outside of the barbed wire fences. Many of the Japanese American artists do not want to talk about their experiences, while others have passed away taking their histories as well as their artwork with them.

Katie Horn
Kelsey Zwiebel
Robin Powers