Manzanar Memorial

The memorial cenotaph at the Manzanar National Historic Site in the remote Owens Valley of California with the dramatic eastern face of the Sierra... more

by Douglas Taylor

Title

Manzanar Memorial

Artist

Douglas Taylor

Medium

Photograph - Fine Art Digital Photography

Description

The memorial cenotaph at the Manzanar National Historic Site in the remote Owens Valley of California with the dramatic eastern face of the Sierra Nevada as background.

The United States government decided in 1942 that citizens of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast were a "security risk" and under FDR's Executive Order 9066 mandated all these citizens be rounded up and confined to concentration camps scattered throughout the western states. The camp located at Manzanar, California was named a National Historic Site in 1992 to interpret and preserve the legacy of Japanese American incarceration without the benefit of due process in the United States.

The memorial cenotaph is located at the camp cemetery. It was made in 1943. and inscribed "To Console The Souls Of The Dead" The camp was closed in November, 1945.

The juxtaposition of the incredible beauty as backdrop to the tragedy of the Japanese-American incarceration during the Second World War is somewhat jarring to the spirit. When I pick up a camera I’m usually trying to say something; trying to communicate my view of the world. My desire is to share those high moments when what I see and what I feel is a single experience. The sadness at Manzanar is palpable, and by reaching for the camera I realized what I wanted to say with the photograph would be a political statement.

Typically I avoid any visual references to man in my nature photography, the images of Bodie and Rhyolite being notable exceptions. But here, amongst the stunning grandeur of the mighty Sierra Nevada was a reminder of how thin our veneer of civility really is, and this was a statement that I had to make. This denial of civil rights, in our own recent history, was the denial of basic human rights based simply on race and ethnicity.

Yet men from this very camp, and concentration camps just like it, fought and died for their country during that very war. The 442nd Infantry Regiment was made up of mostly 2nd generation Japanese-Americans, fought in Italy and France, and became legend as the most decorated U. S. Army Regiment in our history.

The grace and forgiveness of the Japanese-American community that suffered so much during and after the war was enlightening, and in their memory we shall never forget.

Uploaded

February 27th, 2022