Since early November 2016, a traveling exhibit of photographs then and now of the Japanese Americans who were forced into American WWII Internment camps has been at the Tucson Desert Art Museum, 7000 E. Tanque Verde Road.

“GAMBATTE! Legacy of an Enduring Spirit is the first body of work devoted to capturing the past and the present of Executive Order 9066 through photographs and oral histories. Through the juxtaposition of historic images and contemporary portraits of the same individuals or their descendants, Paul Kitagaki Jr. takes us on a visual exploration of the Japanese concept of Gambatte, or triumph over adversity.”

photo courtesy of Shelly Black

Recently two reviews of this Gambatte! exhibit were published:

Sansei Brandon Shimoda (whose grandfather was interned in a Dept. of Justice camp) wrote a review on 4/1/17 entitled: “I am an American: the Photographic Legacy of the Japanese American Incarceration” in an online New York arts magazine Hyperallergic. Here’s the link: https://hyperallergic.com/367939/i-am-an-american-the-photographic-legacy-of-japanese-american-incarceration/

In the Tucson Weekly newspaper, 3/30/17 issue, page 18 was published a review by Margaret Regan entitled “Justice Denied”: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/justice-denied/Content?oid=8237101

I also published a reminder of the TDART exhibits (with some photos) and linked these reviews in my blogsite at Blog for Arizona:

Read both reviews, and don’t miss this photo exhibit (plus two others on the internment camp experience) before it closes on April 30, 2017. Hours are Wed. to Sunday, 10 to 4 p.m. Particularly moving is the “Art of Circumstance: Art & Artifacts Created by Japanese Americans incarcerated during  WWII” exhibit with poetry, watercolors and other artifacts (i.e. lovely wooden carved bird pins) from the camps.

More info: http://www.tucsondart.org/