America's Concentration Camps, Revisited

October 16, 2019: Visual Communications' inaugural production, the mobile photographic exhibit AMERICA'S CONCENTRATION CAMPS sits in full display at the Japanese American National Museum as part of the VC Founders' exhibit "At First Light: The Dawning of Asian Pacific America." (Photo: Abraham Ferrer/Visual Communications Photographic Archive)

Visual Communications’ Historical “Cubes Exhibit” Restored And Debuts As Online Exhibit

Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian American media arts organization, today announced the completion of restoration work of its inaugural production, AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS. A mobile photographic exhibit first created as a commission of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), the “Cubes Exhibit,” as the photographic display is affectionately known, represented one of the first instances that the story of Japanese American relocation and confinement during World War II was made widely known to the public.

The restoration, which involved new photo-finishing of the original images and rehousing from birch plywood into durable PVC mobile cubes, also includes an online exhibit destination at camps.vcmedia.org. While the physical version of the restored “Cubes Exhibit” retains its sensory aura with minimal or no captioning, the online version includes detailed photo captions and a wealth of resource links that contextualize the significance and meaning of all the images and texts contained within the display. Additionally, the online “Cubes Exhibit” will include a teachers’ activity guidebook and student-produced zines that give further dimension to the historical significance of a dark chapter in American history.

The “Cubes Exhibit” was created by then-UCLA Film School student Robert A. Nakamura, whose previous work as a staff photographer at the Venice-based House of Eames (headquarters of famed post-modernist designers Charles and Ray Eames) set the stage for Nakamura’s richly-detailed, economically prudent work as a photographer and filmmaker. AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS, created by Nakamura and a small team including brother Norman Nakamura, UCLA visual arts major Alan Ohashi, art professor Kaz Higa, and activists John Ito and Tracy Okida exemplified the working ethos that came into play when Nakamura and Ohashi joined with Duane Kubo and Eddie Wong to found the Asian American media arts organization Visual Communications in 1970.

May 11, 1972: Visual Communications' mobile photographic exhibit AMERICA'S CONCENTRATION CAMPS is the centerpiece of a larger display identifying contrasting media distortions of Asian Americans. Here, creator Robert Nakamura and a team of fellow UCLA students assemble the display in the halls of UCLA's Rolfe Hall. (Photo: Robert Nakamura/Visual Communications Photographic Archive - George T. Ishizuka and Harukichi Nakamura Asian American Movement Collection)

 Commissioned in 1970 for the Japanese American Citizens League’s Campaign to Repeal Title II of the Internal Security Act of 1950, which gave the President authority to detain people who were simply assumed to be security risks, AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS introducing multiple generations of Japanese Americans, as well as other communities of all ethnicities and social and economic standing, to the stark realities of the Japanese American confinement site experience. The photo exhibit soon fulfilled a crucial educational and advocacy role as the story of Japanese American relocation and internment developed in the 1980s into a full-blown campaign for monetary redress for the over 120,000 people whose lives were affected by the WWII confinement site experience.

At numerous student conferences, gallery exhibitions, and community engagement “flashpoints,” the stories of relocation and internment that were unlocked through the “Cubes Exhibit” fueled both the JACL’s legislative initiatives to seek justice for those whose lives were affected by Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, and the emergence of grassroots efforts such as the Los Angeles Committee on Redress and Reparations — the forerunner of Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress (NCRR).

“From the recent occurrences of civil liberties violations in America, to the Indigenous spaces that the camps are rooted on, ‘AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS’ is a reminder of the painful history of displacement  and exclusion that has occurred on this land.” said Francis Cullado, Visual Communications’ Executive Director.

He added, “Throughout VC’s half-century the organization has amplified the perspectives of Asian American and  Pacific Islander Communities. This restoration and new online exhibit continues that mission, and will hopefully bring historical narrative to new allies who can bring in transformative change. In spite of delays in completing this important restoration due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention increased incidences of physical violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the public unveiling of a restored “Cubes Exhibit” is as vital and as timely as ever.”

“The Visual Communications family are grateful to the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program for recognizing the importance of making this historic photo exhibit accessible to newer generations of art-lovers, historians, and emerging activists; and to the George and Sakaye Aratani Foundation for their generous support. In partnership with them, we are able to ensure that the lessons brought to light through the images contained in the “Cubes Exhibit” are not forgotten” said Cullado.

Two sets of the restored AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS cubes exhibit are available for touring to schools, universities, libraries, and community centers and events. The interactive, content-rich online exhibit is now available for remote learning. For K-12 learning, a miniature version of the “Cubes Exhibit” will be available in Spring 2022.

Support for the restoration of AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS was made possible by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, a state-funded grant project of the California State Library. Additional support has been provided by the George T. and Sakaye Aratani Foundation. For more information on booking AMERICA’S CONCENTRATION CAMPS at schools, libraries, and community centers, please contact Visual Communications at: archives@vcmedia.org.