Hospital Debris, Heart Mountain, Wyoming
Artist
Joan Myers
(American, born 1944)
Date1984 (printed 1988)
MediumPlatinum- palladium print
DimensionsImage: 14 1/2 × 18 3/4 in. (36.8 × 47.6 cm)
Support: 17 3/4 × 22 9/16 in. (45.1 × 57.3 cm)
Support: 17 3/4 × 22 9/16 in. (45.1 × 57.3 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Joan Myers, 2017
Object number2017.5.13
DescriptionLandscape with mountains in background and large corrugated metal forms.eMuseum Notes
Located near the small community of Granada in southeastern Colorado, the Granada War Relocation Center (also called Camp Amache) opened in 1942 and reached a peak population of more than 7,000 people by the beginning of the following year. It was the smallest relocation camp and most of the residents were from California. The abandoned site was designated a National Historic Site in 2006 and its sole remaining original building is a pump house.
Throughout her series Whispered Silences, Myers uses the camera to convey the solemn,
isolated landscapes of former Japanese internment camps, highlighting physical
ruins and abandoned objects. This is dynamic image juxtaposes a scenic view of
the Western landscape with metal debris in from a former hospital, the remains
of an otherwise invisible human history of the Heart Mountain camp in
Wyoming. The discarded, hollow metal
forms, along with the empty landscape, convey the heavy weight and sadness of
the site’s history.
On View
Not on viewTerms
- landscape architecture
- camps (temporary settlements)
- derelict buildings
- incarcerating
- patriotism
- concentration camps
