new work #4

148A-19617 (nest) © kjm

new work #3

153B-19617 (back door) © kjm

new work #2

196K-19617 (calendar) © kjm

new work #1

148C-19617 (chimney) © kjm

family. history.

Heart Mountain, as seen from Tak and Emmy's homestead © kjm

I'm having an exciting week.

On Wednesday, I visited with an aunt, uncle and cousin in Denver, who I hadn't seen in a decade. In the telling of family stories, I learned new things about my dad's family, from both before and after the war. And now I'm in Cody, Wyoming, visiting the area around the former Heart Mountain internment camp site, where the family (minus two aunts, who headed East) was sent from Tule Lake.

My path here is a result of a panel discussion I was on in the Fall, where I discussed my Camp Home project, and the history of my family's incarceration during the war. At the presentation was a professor from the University of Wyoming, who informed me that he and others from the university were researching the reuse of buildings from Heart Mountain. Barracks were re-purposed at all the sites, but at Tule Lake, the program of homesteading by veterans, and their use of the buildings, had been the compelling component in Camp Home. I've come to now know that homesteading, with incredible similarities, occurred here as well.

In the past two days, I've already met fantastic and kind people, including three original homesteaders now in their 80's. On many levels, it feels so right to be making this work, and I'm excited to have started phase two of Camp Home.

remember the

a very shiny fire hydrant in front of The Alamo © kjm

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting my Camp Home work at the American Studies Association annual conference in San Antonio. It was the first time I'd talked about the project in an academic setting, and it was really a great experience for me - both in thinking more about the project in preparation, and in the discussions and possibilities that resulted. Art historian Kate Palmer Albers invited me to be part of a panel addressing the Japanese internment and photography after learning about my work as a reviewer for Critical Mass. On the panel, she discussed the work of Andrew Freeman, who's photographed buildings near the former Manzanar internment camp site. Also on the panel were Elena Tajima Creef, author of Imaging Japanese America, and Dalia Habib Linssen, who spoke about the work of Life Magazine photographers Hansel Mieth and Otto Hagel.

While in San Antonio, I had great fun hanging out with photographer Mark Menjivar, who in turn introduced me to some great area photographers and artists, including photographers Jason Reed, Elizabeth Chiles, Sarah Sudhoff and her husband, Gary Schott and Dawn Roe, who was visiting from Florida, also for the ASA conference. A friendly, fun and talented bunch.

My hotel was right across the street from The Alamo, but I never got there.

hinge

4525Z-19617 (hinge) © kjm

background

train tracks leading to Newell, CA © kjm

I didn't have an agenda for the Tule Lake Pilgrimage this weekend, but had hoped to ask Nisei (second generation, American-born Japanese Americans who were children or young adults during the camp) I met about their particular home within the barracks. I never really got around to that, though, because everyone's background and camp history was so interesting. The variety of stories was surprising, and I learned that each family, though interned in the same camp, had uniquely compelling histories.

Among the stories, I learned about: A woman whose most vivid memory was taking their dog to the pound before leaving for camp; A family who hastily moved to an inland California location in hopes of avoiding evacuation, only to move again when interned; A woman who caught pneumonia at age 4 in an assembly center (locations where families were sent prior to internment camps) and due to security issues, was treated in a local hospital for days without a parent or guardian; Stories about burning prized family possessions because they were Japanese; A woman who happened to have been born on December 6, 1941.

But the sadness associated with some of the stories didn't dictate the tone of the weekend. It was an incredibly friendly group and conversations were made easily, in an environment that felt comfortable, uplifting and therapeutic, all at once.

native americans

5058A-19617 (native americans) © kjm

shed light

5052A-19617 (shed light) © kjm

My titles for Camp Home are a combination of two numbers: the number that represents the location it was shot - so in the photo above, 5052 is the number that was assigned to the particular homestead farm property. That number is combined with 19617, which is the number the government gave my family during the internment.

In just my first hour at the Tule Lake Pilgrimage, I learned the number associated with the barrack and actual space my family resided in: 5903b. After so much time thinking about this specific place, it's somewhat amazing to put an "address" to a place that I've only imagined.

sun tea

5056A-19617 (sun tea) © kjm

After three days of shooting, I'll be joining the annual Tule Lake Pilgrimage today, a gathering of former camp internees, their offspring and others. Nearly 400 people arrive today on buses from cities along the West Coast, for weekend of remembering, visiting and education. I expect to learn a lot about the camp experience in the days to come, and look forward to meeting lots of people. In particular, I'm hoping to talk with former internees about what their physical living space was like in their assigned barracks.

stuck

5103A-19617 (horse hair) © kjm

view

5076A-19617 (view) © kjm

return

Looking west down County Road 100 © kjm

I'm back in California, continuing my work on the Camp Home series. Frankly, I've been disappointed that it's been so long since my last visit, so it feels good to be back. And things seem to pick up just where they left off - by now the roads, landscapes, farms and family names are familiar.

Basically, when I'm here I drive around a lot, down a series of small county roads, in search of buildings to photograph. It's apparent to me this visit that I've covered most of the ground here, but there are still farms I haven't approached yet, or found. Again this year, I've been pleased that the people I've met have been so kind - and in the best case scenario, a little conversation arises about my dad, the camp, and the history of the homesteaders.

More in the days to come.

photo.opportunity

Camp Home pictures (center) at PCNW © kjm

I made a quick trip to Seattle this past weekend (thanks to some airline airfare credit) for the opening of Photo-Op, the group show at Photographic Center Northwest, curated by Jen Bekman.

I packed in a lot - leading off with dinner at the home of an editor friend Marika, her husband Ben and their charming son Oliver. Also invited were their friends Josh and his wife, the photographer Annie Musselman. The next day began with breakfast at the home of fellow Reduxer John Keatley, then a visit with Crista Dix and a peek into her flat files at wall space. Before Jen B.'s lecture, I broke bread and hung out with dear friends Steve and Jen. At the opening, I caught up with Mary and Dave, still more friends from my Cincinnati days. With never enough time to talk, I briefly had the pleasure of meeting Pete Brook and photographers Mary Ellen Bartley and James Luckett. I realized who Katie Baum was too late in the evening, and never had a chance to say hi. The next day, before heading out of town, I drove down to Tacoma (more on that later), grabbed a tasty local cup o' joe, and got a tour of PCNW by gallery director Ann Pallesen.

pcnw!

© kjm

I'm really happy to be part of Photo-Op, the upcoming annual group show at Photographic Center Northwest. The show includes work by 20 photographers (links below), and was juried by Jen Bekman. It's been a goal of mine to show work from the Camp Home series in the West and Northwest - and this is particularly special, since my father was living in Tacoma, Washington, when he was sent to Tule Lake.

Photo-Op, Photographic Center Northwest
Opening Friday, July 17, following a 7:00pm lecture by Jen Bekman, Curating & Collecting Contemporary Photography, at the Seattle Art Museum.

Artists: Jowhara Alsaud, Andrea Bakacs, Mary Ellen Bartley, Katie Baum, Magda Biernat, Colin Blakely, Tim Carpenter, Onejoon Che, Thomas Holton, Stephanie Kirk, Brian Knappenberger, Alex Leme, James Luckett, Liz Obert, Colleen Plumb, Shawn Records, Tom Reese, Andy Reynolds, Rebecca Sittler, Lacey Terrell, and Ian Whitmore.

found

In preparation for a gallery talk I'll be giving on the Camp Home series, I asked my Mom if she knew of any old photos of my Dad with his family. We've always had lots of beautiful vintage photographs of my Mom's family in Hawaii, but scant few from the Miyazaki side. She found a box of photos containing pictures I'd never seen before. To my surprise, there were pictures of my Dad, aunt and grandparents at Heart Mountain (in Wyoming), the internment camp they were moved to from Tule Lake. Internees weren't allowed to have cameras in camp, but possibly the rules were relaxed in later years - I'm not sure. He would have been 14 or 15 years old at the time these were taken.

After thinking so much about my Dad during that time period, and seeing so many camp buildings in person and in historic photographs, I'm thrilled to see these - both as a photographer and a son.

Here's the information for the gallery talk, though the high temperature on Thursday is supposed to be a bone-chilling -3 degrees (which would even keep hardy Wisconsinites at home). If you make it, I promise to do my best to inform and entertain!

Thursday, January 15, 6:00 pm
Mary L. Nohl Fund Fellowship exhibit
Inova/Kenilworth gallery, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
2155 N. Prospect Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53202

update

© kjm

Updates on the Camp Home project:

I made a broad edit for the studio visit relating to the Nohl Fund Fellowship show, which will open in October. We further culled the pictures to a working set of 33, which are now the selections that appear on my website.

I'm thrilled to say that Karin Higa from the Japanese American National Museum has agreed to write the essay for the show catalog.

And I have a straight-from-the-printer set of 20 prints that I'll be taking Friday to Photolucida in Portland.

edit

© kjm

I'm working on editing the Camp Home pictures, which is proving to be a bit harder than expected. My intention is to make a first broad edit of about 50 pictures, which will eventually be further winnowed down. I pride myself on being a good editor of my own work, but I find this more difficult than sifting through an editorial assignment or smaller personal projects. The criteria for selection is multi-layered, and I'm trying to balance aesthetic qualities with content and the element of symbolism. And these are some of the most personal pictures I've ever made, so that makes it harder to be completely neutral. The "ownership" I feel with these pictures is strong, and I feel a kind of larger responsibility in releasing them.

All that said, it's an incredibly gratifying, if excruciating task, and I'm loving every minute of it.

camp home: leaving

© kjm

I'm leaving Tulelake today, heading to Seattle for an assignment. What a great week this has been. With each visit, I feel more informed about the area and it's people, and hopefully that's reflected in the pictures I'm making. I was able to fully immerse myself in the project, and that's been a real treat.

I had wonderful conversations all week - about the internment camp history, about the homesteaders' history, about farming and weather, about ancestors and grandkids. Thanks to Beverly, Kenny & Evelyn, Wendell & Lela Mae, John & Aline, Jacqui & David, Thorton, Fe & Bob, Elona, Joe, David, Louie, Jessie, Carol, Brodie, Otto & Judy, Tim, Helen, Marty, Jerry & Mary Ann, Brandon, Jerry & Elizabeth, Dave, and Bobby.

I'll be back again soon, I hope.