#apahmonth

During WWII, Miné Okubo (left) and Kay Sekimachi (right) were both forcibly removed from their homes in California and sent to Tanforan Assembly Center, then imprisoned at Topaz Relocation Center. Over 100,000 people of Japanese descent (most of whom where US citizens) were imprisoned in these camps and similar ones across this country. Sekimachi and Okubo met sometime during 1942-1944 when they were at Tanforan and Topaz. They both became artists and maintained a lifelong friendship documented through the letters they exchanged over five decades after leaving the camps. Read more about their correspondence on our blog: https://www.aaa.si.edu/blog/2016/05/epistolary-friendship-min%C3%A9-okubo%E2%80%99s-letters-to-kay-sekimachi Image Credit: Photo of Okubo by Cecil J. Thompson, circa 1980s. Photographer of Sekimachi unknown.

Isamu Noguchi was an acclaimed Japanese American sculptor. The Archives of American Art has a 1973 oral history interview with Noguchi discussing his life and career. His monumental influence on design is still apparent today, notably through his lanterns and other furniture, which are still being produced.https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-isamu-noguchi-11906 Image Citation: Isamu Noguchi in his studio, 1968 / Russell Lynes, photographer. Russell Lynes papers, 1935-1986. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

During WWII, Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, CA was renamed “Tanforan Assembly Center” and used as a Japanese American temporary detention facility where horse stalls were converted into barracks, often with entire families crowded a single “apartment.” Fiber artist Kay Sekimachi was roughly 15 y.o. when she and her family were forcibly removed to Tanforan in 1942. Here is a small sampling of Sekimachi’s drawings depicting Tanforan and the horse stalls.