Start by either:
a) relating the images in your book with this archive:
https://anchoreditions.com/blog/dorothea-lange-censored-photographs
or
b) commenting on how one or two of the images complement the text that follows it, or otherwise diverges from it.
"I am often asked why am I not bitter and could this happen again? I am a realist with a creative mind, interested in people, so my thoughts are constructive. I am not bitter. I hope that things can be learned from this tragic episode, for I believe it could happen again."
(Miné Okubo, 1983)
a) relating the images in your book with this archive:
https://anchoreditions.com/blog/dorothea-lange-censored-photographs
or
b) commenting on how one or two of the images complement the text that follows it, or otherwise diverges from it.
"I am often asked why am I not bitter and could this happen again? I am a realist with a creative mind, interested in people, so my thoughts are constructive. I am not bitter. I hope that things can be learned from this tragic episode, for I believe it could happen again."
(Miné Okubo, 1983)
Both of these images, respectively, a picture of a dust storm at the War relocation Authority Center in Manzanar, California, and a picture of US residents of Japanese ancestry standing in line for registration prior to evacuation to centers of the same sort, appear to carry feelings of distrust, isolation and segregation.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the images don't convey optimism or hope they do illustrate the events Miné Okubo is referring to. Taken before the evacuation process had begun, the second picture conveys vulnerability, showcasing US residents of Japanese ancestry who are aprehensive, distrustful and, as Christine Hong puts it in her introduction of "Citizen 13660", "vulnerable to state power and deprived of mechanisms of self-governance".
Likewise, both Lange's photography and Okubo's illustrations serve to document the event and in some way constructively process and transform it in their work, fulfilling Okubo's hope of things being "learned from this tragic episode".
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DeleteIf possible, I would like to propose an addition to the key ideas expressed in this clear and concise comment. In both _Citizen 13660_ and the archive above, the images themselves are ambiguous in their simplicity, requiring the context of the events, which may be conveyed by the text that follows the image, to show the weight they truly hold. Many of Miné Okubo's drawings appear to portray events from everyday life, yet the context revealed uncovers deeper layers.
Deletea) It is possible to find strong links between Okubo's paintings and this archive's photos and testimonies. For starters, the first picture is similar to the drawings in page 17 and 20, not only appearence wise but also because on all these images we can see people waiting to see their future determined, not knowing where it would take them.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures titled Waiting for the Bus and Guarding the Baggage expose the sadness of children having to leave their homes to dive into an unknown, scary future. These and especially the portrait of family Mochida are extremely close to Okubo's drawing on page 22 when her brother and her are carrying all the belongings they thought were important enough to take with them, just being tagged by a number and losing their identity and humanity.
On pages 26 and 27 we are confronted with paintings of the buses that took them to the camp, a similar situation to Misuyo Nakamura's experience: "We were herded onto the train just like cattle and swine." which is accompanied by a touching image of a child on the train.
We see some photographs of San Bruno's barracks which i think are identical to the ones drawed by okubo on pages 34 and 35, looking really badly constructed and even unfinished, made of wood and similar to stables.
Lastly, id like to mention Manzanar's relocation center, as some photographs taken there resemble page 198, with people farming.
Regarding the two images above, we can see that they are very similar to the illustrations on Okubo's drawings. Regarding the first picture, we can associate it with the drawings in pages 82-83 or 101 where we can see the true dimensions of the American centers made during WWII to house Japanese or Japanese-American people in the United States. In this case, the center represented in the picture and in the book is one located in California. Okubo says in the text above that this is all tragic and is right by saying this since the conditions in which these people lived in during this time where horrifying and inhuman. Regarding the second image, we can see a Japanese-American woman with somewhat of a worried face and behind her a poster with a notice on her people. In this picture, as well as in the first one, we can see the despair and state in which Japanese descendants of the time felt, giving us an even more vivid example than just the drawings in the book. Overall, these images are very connected with Okubo's text and drawings in a very special way.
ReplyDeletea) Theres no denying that both images are very similar in theme, obviously, in subject and in some cases even in composition. Okubo's pictures tended to be more raw for her objective was not to create a general picture of the camp but a diary of her experience, that is influenced by, for example, her identity as a woman. While Lange's were more of a larger look at the life on camp.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most similar compositions happens in the second picture attached to this post. In all of the illustrations for citizen 13660 the author is present, usually in a corner looking at the subject of this picture, her eyes work as a sort of invitation to observe her surroundings not through her point of view but as if a friend is showing you around her life. In the second picture that is also a female subject that with us looks at the situation, the young girl who is the first element the observer notices is as okubo does looking at the situation at hand trying to comprehend it alongside the viewer
Artur Medeiros