[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 101 (Tuesday, June 20, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


              ARTIST'S VIEW OF JAPANESE-AMERICAN INTERNMENT

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                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 20, 1995
  Mr. McDermott. Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw your attention to a 
unique exhibit, featuring works by internationally renowned artist 
Kenjiro Nomura, on display in the Cannon Rotunda, until June 23, 1995.
  The exhibit, ``Kenjiro Nomura: An Artist's View of the Japanese-
American Internment,'' consists of sketches and paintings produced by 
the artist while interned during World War II at the Minidoka 
Relocation Center in Hunt, ID. Like other Japanese-Americans, Mr. 
Nomura and his family lost their freedom, home, possessions, and 
business when they were uprooted from their home in Seattle, WA, and 
herded off to internment camps.
  Under orders not to depict camp life in a negative way, Nomura, who 
worked as a sign painter during his internment, used Government-issue 
paints, crayons, and paper to create a diary of his internment ordeal. 
His paintings done in oil or watercolor on mostly yellowish paper are 
the artist's record of proud people living in the harsh conditions of 
internment.
  I encourage you to take a moment to view these remarkably poignant 
works of art.
  I wish to thank June Mukai McKivor, Mr. Nomura's niece and art 
scholar in Seattle, who is responsible for recognizing the historical 
significance of these paintings and for organizing them into a 
traveling exhibit.


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