Anyone who has lost his home to a climate of fear has a deep understanding of mankind’s capability for blind betrayal. The father of artist Judy Shintani was an American teenager when he and his family were interned at Tule Lake Incarceration Camp during WWII. Click here to read more.
During my artist residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute, I learned that the history of the New Mexico internment camps was not well known, and people wanted to know more.
My focus became, how could art bring understanding and connection to the communities in Santa Fe? I wanted to inform the public about this history that has touched my own Japanese American family and invite people of other cultures to express their stories of displacement, unjust incarceration, and immigration journeys.
I decided to create an experiential space incorporating modalities like drawing, movement, speaking, listening, and re-enactment.
Participants were invited to create a presence for those they wanted to remember. Just the simple task of striking a pose of a loved one and being outlined in red crayon, connected the collaborators, and spontaneous memories were shared. These ancestor drawings on the gallery walls created a safe and sacred place for remembering.
It was a very moving event with many voices, quiet support, some tears, and an overall powerful energy of compassion. People traveled from as far away as Taos, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque to attend. The walking meditation lead by Eliane Allegre with the music provided by Glen Neff put the participants in a contemplative space to consider stories of incarceration, immigration, and displacement. 15 storytellers came forward to share internee memories and other difficult and heartfelt experiences.
The gallery event was followed by the visit to the Santa Fe Internment Marker. It was chilly, windy and clear beautiful day. We carried symbolic suitcases, like the prisoners traveling to a place unknown. Upon arriving the cases were opened and the folded cranes and flowers inside were used to embellish the marker. Historian and writer Nancy Bartlit and Victor Yamada of the NM Japanese Citizen League, spoke about the marker history and future plans to bring more visibility to the history of the New Mexican Internment Camps.
You may ask, why is it important to share this history from 73 years ago? In the United States today, we are still imprisoning innocent families, like those from Central America. In a world of terrorist atrocities, the backlash of racial and ethnic prejudice is rampant. We must find ways to understand and connect to each other and art is a powerful way to do it.
Thank you to all of you who supported this special sharing event. It couldn’t have happened without the team of Victor Yamada, Sue Rundstrom, Nancy Bartlit, Santa Fe Art Institute, Glen Neff, Eliane Allegre, and many others.
Thank you to the Santa Fe Art Institute for selecting me for the immigration artist in residence program.
I guess it is common to see your own art differently after it is up on the gallery walls. Stepping back to take some photos, I suddenly realized that all three pieces in the Generation Nexus: Peace in the Post-war Era Exhibition, were about my father, Kazumi Shintani.
I should not have been surprised since the exhibition is about victims of the US government’s concentration and confinement policies. The show is curated by Betty Nobue Kano and Janeen Antoine, who brought together artists of Japanese American and Native American heritage – Muriel Antoine, Fredrick Cloyd, Lucien Kubo, Emmanuel Montoya, Ruth Okimoto, Judy Shintani, Anthony Sul, and Hulleah Tsinhinjinne.
The exhibition is in the new historical Building 640 in the Presidio in San Francisco. The building was a secret Military Intelligence Service Learning Center, where Japanese American Soldiers were trained as military linguists in 1941, for the coming war.
I describe my work in this blog but decided to not show all of them, to just give you just a taste of what is in the show.
Portal The photo of my father, Kazumi Shintani, was taken in a farm field near the Tule Lake Segregation Center in Northern California. He spent his teenage years imprisoned there. At the time of the photo we had just concluded attending the Tule Lake Pilgrimage. It was the first time I visited this historic place that is so important to my family history and that of many other Japanese Americans too. The Pilgrimage was a time of healing, reflection, story telling, and acknowledgement for us and the other 300 attendees. In the photo my father is looking at a dilapidated barrack that originally was a home for some internees at the camp. The barracks were later removed and sold to returning vets to use for homes and barns. The wood from this barrack was offered to internee families before it was to be burned. My father and I scavenged some material for my future art making. It was a way to take a piece of painful history and transform it.
Pledge Allegiance The Tule Lake barrack wood represented a time when my father was imprisoned during his teenage years. I held on to the wood for 3 years. After much pondering, sketching and soul-searching, I decided to create an American flag. The pledge of allegiance phrase “with liberty and justice for all” rang hallow during the 1940’s when the US government forced the unconstitutional imprisonment of 120,000 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry into ten concentration camps. Tule Lake camp became a segregation and high security camp for internees who were labeled disloyal.
Currently many Japanese Americans, as well as other Americans, are alarmed about the state of citizen freedoms and racial profiling that is happening in the United States. It is an important time to stand up for our rights and make sure that history does not repeat itself.
Ancestor Chimes My father’s family settled in America and raised oysters in the Puget Sound. In this piece I honor these family members, most of who have passed on. On the oyster shells you will find their stories. Some of the ink may fade over time just as memories do. The shells dangle and move and our legacy travels to reach ancestors via the wind and the sound of bells. I imagine they are pleased to be reminded of the beautiful place they once inhabited. Their livelihood and time in Washington was cut short when they were unjustly forced to move out of the area due to their ethnicity and the war. They spent 4 years in the Tule Lake Concentration Camp. 65+ years later my father recalls happy times of living on a houseboat in Washington and enjoys bringing his children to visit his childhood locale.
The exhibition opens November 17, 2013, 1-3pm with All Nations Singers, Medicine Warriors Dancers, and Genyukai Okinawan music and shiisa.
Other events include:
November 23, 1 – 4pm Artist Panel
December 22, 1 – 3:30pm Winter Solstice Celebration performance by Harupin-Ha, Butoh Dance
February 1, 2014, 12 – 2pm Children’s Craft Workshop with Judy Shintani and Anthony Sul
March 1, 2014, 1 – 3:30pm EO 9066 Event: Film on Black Japanese Life
April 27, 2014, 1 – 3:30pm Ohlone inthe Presidio: Closing Ceremony, Pomo/Ohlone Dancers, Shellmound Walk
For more information: www.njahs.org
Me, Judy Shintani, and fellow coastside alumni Judy Johnson-Williams, are in an art show which opens this Friday, 2/15. JFKU alumni sister Dorothy Nissen is showing her work in this show too.
“Acts of war make people behave in many different ways. The Women On War exhibit features images of war, not just the Iraq War, but all wars past and present seen through women’s eyes.”
February 15 – March 29, 2008
Solo Mujeres 20th Annual Juried Exhibition In Collaboration With Women Artists of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts
Juried by Karen Tsujimoto, Curator at the Oakland Museum
In tandem, 2008 WCA Lifetime Achievement Award Winner Yolanda Lopez’s solo show “Women’s Work Is Never Done”
Reception: Friday, February 15, 7-10pm. Admission $5
Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94110
Panel Discussion: Wednesday, March 5, 7 pm
Selected Artists: Phoebe Ackley, Gretchen Blais, Lorraine Bonner, Claudia Chapline, Alejandra Chaverri, Vera Costs, Nuala Creed, Adriana Diaz, Ester Hernandez, Scarlett Manning, Aline Mare, Susan Matthews, Dorothy Nissen, Sandra Ortiz Taylor, Priscilla Otani, Helen Poole Newman, Kimberly Rowe, Judy Shintani, Susanne Slavick, Yuriko Takata, Tanya Wilkinson, Judy Johnson Williams, Holly Wong, Nancy Worthington, Eileen Zevallos.
This is the piece I am exhibiting called “The Remembrance Shrine” which has memories of Japanese American Internees, hidden behind shutters on this illuminated, wrapped bird cage.
KITSUNE: The Fox Woman's Mirror 
