Faces of Internment
In case you missed it two years ago, Yuba Sutter Arts will once again feature its “Faces of Internment” exhibition.
Look into the eyes of local Japanese American residents who were photographed in 1942 just months before they were sent to concentration camps during World War II. The portraits on display speak volumes about what the subjects might have been thinking prior to incarceration.
As a way to commemorate those individuals and families impacted by the internment camp experience, Yuba Sutter Arts is proud to be able to offer as its February main gallery exhibition, “Faces of Interment, Historic Photos of Japanese Americans.” These remarkable black and white photographs were created by Marysville photographer Clyde Bush in 1942. The original photos from 35mm negatives have been digitized and then enlarged to 20” x 30” so the experience is quite profound as the viewer encounters a room full of these larger than life size faces.
Author Paul Coehlo said, “The eyes reflect everything that seems to be hidden; and like a mirror, they also reflect the person looking into them.” The concern, caring, grief, anger, fear and even hopelessness of the individuals portrayed is evident as you encounter each of the large portraits that surround you on three walls of the gallery.
Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced into the camps during the war as a result of FDR’S executive order 9066 signed on February 19, 1942. Many local residents were sent to the Tule Lake Internment Camp near the Oregon Border where they lived for the duration of World War II behind barbed-wire fences, under constant scrutiny below watchtowers, searchlights and the armed guards of the camp.
Before being sent to the Tule Lake camp, many Japanese Americans were temporarily housed at a former migrant farm worker camp in Arboga just south of Marysville. Known as the Arboga Assembly Center, the Japanese American Citizens League has been working for years to create a memorial site near the location of the center. In collaboration with Yuba Sutter Arts and the property owner, the Marysville Joint Unified School District, grant funding was obtained from the California State Library Civil Liberties grant program. The grant will help further develop the memorial site and also be used to create a mural on a wall adjacent to the Marysville Buddhist Church. More details on both projects will be shared at the reception.
The special reception is free and open to the public. It will be held on Saturday, February 15th from 3 -5 pm. The exhibit of the portraits is otherwise open to the public on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11-4pm and also by appointment. The reception and exhibit are located at Yuba Sutter Arts, 624 E Street in Marysville. There is plenty of free street parking and in the parking lots at Umpqua Bank and Bank of America directly across the street.
About YSA: Yuba Sutter Arts is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide arts programming, education, advocacy, assistance and service to artists, organizations and residents of Yuba and Sutter Counties. The official agency for Yuba and Sutter of the California Arts Council, its programs include summer art classes for students from both counties, the Women’s Creative Circle, Shakespeare Readers’ Theatre, Arts in Education, Very Special Arts Festival, Art Party, Harvest the Arts, Arts in Corrections, Jazz Jam and Art Everywhere.