Forty years after World War II, the United States government commissioned a study to examine the impact of the internment of Japanese Americans.
The public hearings included testimonies from those who had been imprisoned, many of whom had never spoken before about their experiences.
“They were in those camps for three and a half years and kept quiet about it because they wanted to prove their loyalty to the United States,” said Christine Ono, who grew up in the Chicago area. “Or, like my parents who were children during that prison, they grew up thinking they had done something wrong and had something to be ashamed of, so they didn’t talk about it.”
Today, Ono and other Japanese American artists keep these stories alive.
A sampling of their work can be seen in “Resilience – Sansi’s Sense of Legacy,” a new exhibit at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie. The exhibit, curated by Jerry Takigawa and Jill Innes, will remain on display until June 1 before heading to a museum in Oklahoma.
Acrylic paintings by Roger Shimomura are on display. All participating artists are sansei, or third-generation Japanese Americans, and the exhibition takes a look at the impact of their parents' generation's internment in internment camps during World War II on their upbringing.
As sansei, or third-generation Japanese Americans, the artists created paintings, sculptures, and other works that expressed the impact of incarceration on their families and communities. Many artists use traditional Japanese art techniques and iconography in their works.
Visitors will be moved by the beauty of the images and expert craftsmanship of the pieces, and moved by themes of disenfranchisement and confinement, as well as concerns about the well-being of immigrant communities today.
Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the incarceration of Japanese Americans through Executive Order 9066. Nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans—many from the West Coast—were interned in 10 camps. Many families, who had lived in the United States for decades, lost their homes, farms, and businesses.
Chicago became the site of a large Japanese American population that was featured in the exhibition. Thanks to factory work, Chicago's Japanese American community grew from hundreds before the war to about 20,000 afterward.
A kimono-shaped community quilt, created by a group of Japanese American artists, expresses life in the city for their families and communities. Titled “Chicago is Home,” it consists of family crests, local buildings, and a staircase linking their past to their dreams. Photos of local Japanese Americans from the 1940s and 1950s are also on display.
“Chicago is Home,” a kimono-style quilt designed by several Chicago artists that features family crests, local buildings, and a staircase that connects the past and the future. Many Japanese Americans freed from prison were drawn to Chicago by postwar jobs.
Items in this display were contributed to and supported by local families, the Japanese American Service Committee, Northeastern Illinois University, the Japanese American Historical Society of Chicago, and the Chicago Japanese American Council.
“It's great as a curator to be able to engage the public,” said Ariel Weininger, the museum's chief curator of collections and exhibitions. “And when they come and see their story in a major museum, it’s very moving.”
Ono's family was among those who moved to the Chicago area.
Her mother's side of the family lived in California before she was imprisoned in Arkansas. Her father's family was originally from Oregon and was sent to an internment camp in Idaho.
Ono, who grew up in Arlington Heights and Edgewater, heard her parents casually mention things they did at “camp.”
“We assumed they were talking about summer camp,” said Ono, who now lives in Maryland.
Artist Christine Ono's parents, Tom and Lily Ono, were imprisoned in concentration camps during World War II. When she was growing up, her parents didn't talk much about their experiences in the camps.
Courtesy of Christine Ono
When she later learned the truth, Ono did her own research and encouraged her parents to open up in part by taking them to visit the former sites where they had been imprisoned.
She heard details from her father about swimming in a canal and stories from her mother about the soil so thick they called it “gumbo.” Ono said it took time for people of her parents' generation to process the experience.
“I think for my parents and many like them, they had a feeling that they had to prove that they were good Americans, that they were going to raise American children,” she said. “What they didn’t expect was that their kids would be so interested.”
Ono's contribution to the exhibition is a wall installation titled “Daruma Resilience II.” It depicts Daruma, a Buddhist monk and a symbol of resilience in the face of adversity.
The article also includes government documents referring to the incarceration of Japanese Americans, as well as other forms of discrimination against other groups.
Visitors are encouraged to write their wishes on sticky notes and place them on the wall.
Christine Ono with her work “Daruma Resilience II.” “I see this struggle for justice and equality and basic respect for other human beings as ongoing,” Ono said.
Gregory R. Staley Photography
“I see this struggle for justice and equality and basic respect for other human beings as ongoing,” Ono said. “I think we have to be constantly vigilant to make sure that all people are treated fairly. That was one of the reasons I wanted to do this piece in this show. It's not just a reminder of the camps that my father and grandfather were imprisoned in, but it equalizes all the injustices based on The racism and bigotry that has been part of our history in this country.
Other works in the exhibition include replicas of Wendy Maruyama's identification cards worn by Japanese Americans who were imprisoned. The leaves hang in bundles 12 feet long from the ceiling.
Reiko Fujii constructed a glass kimono featuring images from the people she interviewed for her documentary “Detained Alien Enemy.” Roger Shimomura creates vivid acrylic paintings, including one depicting a hostile military presence in a concentration camp.
Wendy Maruyama's project “The Tag Project: Tule Lake” (left) consists of replica name tags of prisoners strung in 12-foot bundles. Reiko Fuji created a glass kimono (right) containing images of those interviewed for her documentary “Detained Alien Enemy.”
Weninger, the museum's chief curator, said she wants the exhibit to be educational for visitors.
“I also hope they come to a better understanding of generational trauma and how it can be expressed through works of art.”
