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 of the images below might complement the text that follows them, or otherwise diverge 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)
This text from Miné Okubo makes me reflect on how a person who has lived herself the pain and injustice of being imprisoned still is “not bitter”; I admire her resilience without bitterness and I find her words powerful, with a little bit of hope but at the same time a grave realization that this could happen again and that democratic ideals are actually very fragile. The imagine of a camp with barracks and a standing U.S. flag underlines the contrast between loss of civil rights and confinement and the values of freedom and democracy that are typically associated with the American flag. We must be careful on how we deal with prejudices as this could lead to a threat of civil rights at any time and we absolutely must prevent this from happening again. -Laura Bettio
ReplyDeleteb) Personally, the image I would associate with Miné Okubo’s text would be the second one, portraying a young woman who stands out from the crowd in front of her, in the context of what seems to be the Japanese expulsion in America from the signs in the background.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, she is the only one who is looking in a different way at the direction the others in front of her are doing as well: straight to the right side of the picture, which according to Hook and Glavenau’s article “Image analysis: an interactive approach to compositional elements” is described as “the new” (p. 18).
She’s the only one leaning towards the spectator, therefore conveying a certain sense of involvement and shared curiosity with her.
The fact that the woman portrayed in this black and white picture looks differently engaged with what the others are looking at, makes me connect it with the text because the author herself has learnt to distinguish herself by not being bitter despite everything that has happened to her, but instead looking at things that are put in front of her from a different and subjective perspective, hoping that the future, the new, will be different from the past, usually depicted by the left side according to Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), to which the people in the picture are actually giving their backs to.
However, the image can also be read as the Japanese leaving behind their past (the left side they're giving their back to) of free people in America and looking towards a very different future (the right side of the picture) of segregation, as suggested by the notice signs on the wall.
Citizen13660 is a comic book representation of human cruelty. The image shows an internment camp where the writer herself was held: identical barracks with an American flag in the centre. At first glance, everything looks orderly and simple, even resembling an abandoned city. If these were the archives kept from the camps, at first glance it does not look like a place where atrocities were committed, human rights were violated, and populations were discriminated against because of their origin. However, the presence of the flag reminds both us and the prisoners of those responsible for their situation: patriotism. National ideas and symbols, if taken to extremes, can bring out the worst in human beings by considering certain nationalities superior to others. That is why the author says, ‘I am not bitter, I believe it could happen again.’ She speaks from memory and from pain, remembering that democracy is not immune to fear or xenophobia. Today, it is more endangered than ever, as humans forget, and when history is forgotten, it is doomed to repeat itself. Misinformation, hoaxes and symbols of hatred circulating throughout the internet create a climate conducive to the resurgence of fascist and Nazi attitudes. Thus, political leaders themselves defend actions of this type as ‘solutions to complex problems’.
ReplyDeleteThat is why the photograph does not belong to a time or place in the past, but rather warns us that this scenario is happening today, under the rule of the same ‘great and powerful’ country. That is why, in such difficult times when fear overcomes reason, we young people must use critical thinking and eliminate that feeling of hatred towards foreigners, which is what they are trying so hard to make us feel.
The first image, the top one, connects to Okubo’s quote because it shows the setting of the episode she is talking about. The row of small barracks look empty and quit, peaceful even. But knowing that the image shows an internment camp, it changes how the image "feels". The American flag flying in the center could represent "freedom" and "equality, yet the people who were forced to live there were denied those rights. That contrast makes the image feel ironic. On the other hand, the calm atmosphere of the photograph matches Okubo’s tone on the quote. She says she's not bitter and wants people to learn from what happened. The stillness of the scene reflects that sense of reflection rather than anger. The flag could even symbolise hope and the idea that the country can recognize its mistakes and improve. Having say that, the image complements her message about learning from the past.
ReplyDeleteMatilde Amaro