The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946

The author opens the book with an explanation of what happened at the start of the internment process. She includes some good photos with this. After this section, she moves on to the main part of the book, showing the kinds of arts and crafts things that were made in the camps.

They are nothing less than absolutely amazing. Working without free access to the normal tools of artists, the artists in the camp made objects out of wood, stone, shells and thread. They also did a lot of really good drawings.

The book is very large, dimension-wise, and this helps to bring out the full beauty of these objects that were created. The colors are incredibly; the detail in the work is nothing less than amazing. Even in places as ugly and controlled as were the camps, great beauty could still arise and flourish.

Main Index
Japan main page
Japanese-American Internment Camps index page
Japan and World War II index page