Heart Mountain, Japanese-American Concentration Camp, Wyoming, June 3, 1995 / HM-12-16-40 (from the series Japanese American Concentration Camps)
Artist
Patrick Nagatani
(American, 1945 - 2017)
DateJune 3, 1995
Mediumchromogenic print
DimensionsImage: 10 1/4 × 12 3/4 in. (26 × 32.4 cm)
Support: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Support: 11 × 14 in. (27.9 × 35.6 cm)
Mat: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Patrick Nagatani, 2017
Object number2017.12.72
DescriptionForeground of disturbed soil with rocks that has been overgrown with vegetation. Middle ground covered with low vegetation and a tree at far left and far right. A little further back at center of composition is an arrangement of boulders that is part of a monument surrounded by an area of bare earth. Dominating the composition is the distinctive shape of Heart Mountain. Above it is a low-hanging blanket of clouds with dark clouds in the foreground at right.eMuseum Notes
Typically known for his photographic narratives and colorful
constructed imagery, Patrick Nagatani shifts to a more documentary style in his
series “Japanese-American Concentration Camps.” In the early 1990s, the artist
traveled to and photographed the sites of ten inland camps created by the U.S.
government during World War II to forcibly detain citizens of Japanese descent.
Families across the nation were required to leave their homes, Businesses,
land, and property to live in these isolated camps under challenging
conditions. Among them were Nagatani’s parents, who were both incarcerated as
young adults, his mother at Manzanar and his father at Jerome; his maternal
grandfather was separated from his family and held at the Justice Department
Internment Camp in Santa Fe. Nagatani’s parents later met married in Chicago
and, like many prisoners of war, did not discuss their incarceration with their
children. The artist and his siblings grew into adulthood knowing very little
of their parents’ experiences. This photographic series was his way to explore
and claim that family history.
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