Relocations and Revisions: The Japanese-American Internment Reconsidered (film)

Companion video to the 1992 exhibition of art inspired by the wartime exclusion and incarceration at the Long Beach Museum of Art that features interviews with the mostly Sansei artists featured in the exhibition.

The film begins with a brief overview of the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II by narrator Takayo Fischer , accompanied by historical footage of the concentration camps shot by Dave Tatsuno and contemporary images including glimpses of the various art pieces. In interviews, the artists talk about their family histories, how they came to learn about the incarceration, and the inspiration for their art, while we see them at work and see their pieces in the gallery. In addition, artist Roger Shimomura reads from his grandmother's diary while we see images of his paintings that were inspired by the diary; performance artist Brenda Wong Aoki performs excerpts from her piece "Dancing in California"; and we see excerpts the films Memories from the Department of Amnesia by Janice Tanaka and History and Memory by Rea Tajiri. The film ends with Fischer on camera recalling her own incarceration and her emotional reaction to the exhibition.

Might also like Relics from Camp: A Video Journey (1998); The Art of Gaman: The Story Behind the Objects (2010); Harsh Canvas: The Art and Life of Henry Sugimoto (2001)