The Japanese American National Museum Extends BeHere / 1942 and Sutra and Bible Exhibitions

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) has extended the closing dates for two temporary exhibitions that offer new insights into the incarceration of Japanese Americans in American concentration camps during World War II. BeHere / 1942: A New Lens on the Japanese American Incarceration will stay open through January 8, 2023. Sutra and Bible: Faith and the Japanese American World War II Incarceration will remain open until February 19, 2023, the Day of Remembrance when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942, paving the way for the exclusion and removal of Japanese Americans.

BeHere / 1942: A New Lens on the Japanese American Incarceration transports visitors to the past using little-known photographs by Dorothea Lange and Russell Lee and two augmented-reality (AR) installations that explore this historical moment in new ways. The AR installation in JANM allows visitors to become photographers using replicas of Graflex cameras. The AR installation on the JANM Plaza lets visitors walk among Japanese Americans on the verge of leaving for the camps. Realized with the participation of local Japanese American community members, this outdoor recreation includes three people who experienced life in the camps as children. Created by Masaki Fujihata, this exhibition is co-presented with the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities at UCLA and Waseda University, Tokyo.

Sutra and Bible: Faith and the Japanese American World War II Incarceration shares the many ways that the Buddhist and Christian communities provided refuge, instilled hope, and taught compassion as Japanese Americans survived behind barbed wire, under martial law, and on the battlefield through an array of astonishing artifacts: from the prayer books and religious scrolls they carried into camp, to the Buddha statues, crosses, and altars they handcrafted to keep their spirits alive. At the heart of the exhibition are sacred scriptures created in camp: ink-inscribed stones that were unearthed from the Heart Mountain concentration camp’s cemetery that make up a section of the Lotus Sutra, and heavily annotated bilingual Bibles handwritten by the Salvation Army’s Captain Masuo Kitaji during his incarceration in the Poston concentration camp. Co-curated by Duncan Ryuken Williams and Emily Anderson, this exhibition is co-presented by JANM and the USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture with support from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, and the Okada Family Foundation.

“Extending these popular exhibitions gives many more people a chance to experience the incredible artifacts, insightful photographs, and innovative technology used to bring this period of history to life. We look forward to welcoming more visitors during the months ahead, especially during the holidays,” said Ann Burroughs, President and CEO.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories and strives to provide a voice for Japanese Americans as well as a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 70 exhibitions onsite while traveling 17 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.