Dust Storm in the Barracks
notes: label: Description
content: Obata used his art talent as a tool for documenting ongoings wherever he traveled. In 1942 when he was incarcerated at the Topaz detention camp he was shocked by the living conditions that he and all the other Japanese Americans had to endure.
label: Description
content: This painting by Obata showcases the bare amenities the prisoners were allowed, and how a dust storm could completely ravage their living spaces because they were provided with no defense. Obata's paintings are some of the most powerful images that came out of the Japanese American concentration camps. Japanese American captives were not allowed to have cameras. Artists like Obata and Koho witnessed and recorded the segregation and injustices done to the Japanese people.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Utah, Topaz War Relocation Center
topic: label: Subject
content: World War II
label: related event
content: World War II
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
label: See more items in
content: Executive Order 9066
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Chiura Obata family
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2016.0224.02
label: accession number
content: 2016.0224
label: catalog number
content: 2016.0224.02
objectType: label: Object Name
content: painting
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: painted (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: in frame: 17 in x 21 1/2 in x 1 in; 43.18 cm x 54.61 cm x 2.54 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 11 in x 15 in x in; 27.94 cm x 38.1 cm x .00254 cm