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Nisei Trilogy: The Camps
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Object number2015.62.2

Nisei Trilogy: The Camps

Artist (American, 1939-)
Date2015
Mediumlithograph
Dimensionsimage: 15 × 24 in. (38.1 × 61 cm)
sheet: 18 1/2 × 27 in. (47 × 68.6 cm)
mat: 24 × 30 in. (61 × 76.2 cm)
Credit LineElisabeth Claire Lahti Fund
Exhibition History"The Way Forward: New Acquisitions at the KIA," Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, Michigan, Joy Light Gallery of Asian Art (Aug 26, 2018 - Dec 2, 2018) "Sugoi! 200 Years of Japanese Art," KIA, Galleries 2 & 5 (May 13, 2023 - September 24, 2023) Label TextRoger Shimomura graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle, and served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. In 1967, instead of reenlisting, he chose instead to devote himself to art-making. That same year, he received an MFA from Syracuse University. An early influence was Andy Warhol, whose Pop Art aesthetics and use of screenprints continue to impact Shimomura’s work. The three prints in the Nisei Trilogy commemorate the internment of more than 110,000 persons of Japanese descent, including U.S.-born citizens (Nisei) from 1942 to 1945, in reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Specifically, this work recalls life at the Minidoka “relocation center” in Hunt, Idaho, which housed over 9,250 prisoners, including a two-year-old Shimomura and his family. The artist juxtaposes a Pop-like aesthetic (including imagery reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein’s comic-strip-like style and stylized images of exploding fighter planes) against text by poet Lawrence Matsuda, who was born in Minidoka. The series alludes to the dual tragedies of Pearl Harbor and childhood imprisonment and discrimination while reflecting on an immigrant’s desire to belong in America. The Camps and Return Home, in particular, reflect on the heartbreaking prejudice that innocent children like Shimomura and Matsuda faced solely because of their ancestry. Combining such subject matter with a Pop style ironizes mid-century popular culture sources like comics and advertisements that were celebrated as all-American yet often failed to include non-white figures without resorting to caricature.