The pop art images and flat, comic-book style characters outlined in black that Shimomura uses to illustrate his grandmother's entries recall traditional Japanese imagery. His grandmother arrived at the Minidoka Relocation Center on Aug. 17, 1942. Part of her journal entry that day describes traveling by bus in 112-degree heat to the desolate location. The painting to illustrate that day's entry highlights a thick barbed-wire fence in the foreground with rows of nondescript tarpaper barracks in the background. A guard tower is visible in the distance.
Barbed wire is a recurring theme, seen in several individual paintings.
And a painted barbed-wire fence encircles the exhibit, running along the wall and above each painting. In January, President Clinton named the Minidoka Relocation Center one of seven newly selected national monuments, putting 73-acre areas of the former concentration camp under National Park Service jurisdiction. Shimomura says the designation was long overdue. All rights reserved. Your own email list, discussions, photos, calendar, more.