Acts and Aesthetics of Resilience and Resistance
After the Pearl Harbor attack in WWII, widespread fear and anger was quickly turned on Japanese Americans. With the US history of racial prejudices, these emotions steamed so heavily that Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066, (February 19, 1942), which prompted the US government to consider all Japanese ancestry a threat to the US. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated without due process.
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Japanese Americans were forced into concentration camps and had to abandon their homes, pets, businesses and possessions. The government gave little aid to run the internment camps. Multiple families had to share one horse stall and use hay to stuff their bedding. Everyone were forced to be resourceful. Japanese Americans were only allowed to bring two bags and basic necessities had to be solved by themselves.
These four posters illustrate handmade objects of real pieces made in concentration camps. The objects depicted were originally made from found scraps and materials on the ground, showing how resourceful Japanese Americans had to be. Many internees participated in jewelry-making, wood shop, sewing and more to maintain their humanity and dignity after being dehumanized after mass incarceration.
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Naomi Kurihara
Naomi Kurihara is a visual development artist based in the Los Angeles area. She is currently majoring in Entertainment Design at ArtCenter College of Design, specializing in world building character and key art. She is deeply influenced by style, color and story-driven projects. With the rise of harassment and violence against Asian Americans, she aims to educate about how deep-rooted these prejudiced acts have been in American history. She seeks an open the conversation about what we can do as a community to make a change. With the help of her school and teachers at ArtCenter College, she has made illustrations map called “Acts and Aesthetics of Resilience and Resistance” mapping the issues of Japanese concentration camps have in hidden prejudice against Japanese Americans.