Toyo Miyatake, a skilled and successful photographer, was one of ten thousand Japanese-Americans imprisoned during World War II in the Manzanar concentration camp in central California. Anyone of Japanese ancestry was forbidden to possess a camera at the time. Miyatake, however, did manage to include an old shutter and lens among the small amount of belongings his family was allowed to take to the camp.
With the help of other craftsmen among the camp's prisoners Miyatake put together a wooden bodied camera from found materials, including a piece of drain pipe to which the shutter and lens were attached to allow focusing. Film holders, a ground glass, film and processing chemicals were smuggled in. When it was all assembled, Miyatake set about surreptitiously recording the daily life of the Manzanar community in a body of work ultimately comprising over a thousand images.
 |
| Toyo Miyatake, High school students on school grounds, Eastern Sierras and barracks in background, ca. 1942–45 (Aperture #251) |
Miyatake's story was nicely told in a 2023 article by Ken Chen in the #251 edition of Aperture. There are also numerous videos available on the subject, including Episode 3 of the 10 Camps, 10 Stories series on Youtube. There is a PBS short featuring Miyatake's son, How Tōyō Miyatake Handcrafted His Camera in Manzanar.
In fact, Miyatake's story has been told many times over the years, but it seems that it needs retelling even more these days.
 |
| Toyo Miyatake (portrait by Ansel Adams) |
* * *
The history of WWII Japanese Internment is documented with great thoroughness at the Densho site. See, for instance, Manzanar Children’s Village: Japanese American Orphans in a WWII Concentration Camp.
Thank you for sharing--some fascinating reading.
ReplyDeleteThe Densho site is a good antidote to the current Trump regime efforts to obscure and distort history.
DeleteI am amazed that they could smuggle in film plates. I wonder if some of the guards did not consider the internees to be "enemies of the state", as are today's immigrants, who purportedly steal all those well-paying jobs from magas. What a world we live in, to again have new concentration camps for an undesired demographic.
ReplyDeleteWith 10,000 people confined in a remote site there would have been the need to bring in a lot of supplies from outside, offering many opportunities for smuggling. Also, the camp director did ultimately recognize Miyatake's contribution to the community,, and likely did facilitate access to photo supplies.
Delete