Title:
Tanforan Assembly Center
Creator/Contributor:
Hibi, Hisako
Date:
8/24/1942
Identifier:
96.601.1
Format:
painting
oil on canvas
Description:
Unframed, stretched canvas. Image of dark barracks in and around dirt racetrack, mountains in background.
Historical Note:
This painting is one of only eight known works done by Hisako Hibi at the Tanforan Assembly Center located in San Bruno, California.
It is an important visual expression of Hibi's initial impressions of Tanforan and the circumstances of the incarceration.
The perspective of the painting offers a panoramic, bird's-eye view of the camp and hence, Hibi's imagined vision of the camp
grounds from such a distance. The barracks, which formerly housed race horses, are depicted as rows of buildings closely
huddled into the narrow race track enclosure. The shallow space of the painting and the use of a high horizon contribute
to the cramped feeling of the work. The bird flying in the top right corner is the only sign of movement and life in the
otherwise quiet and somber canvas.
Subject:
Assembly Centers, Tanforan | barracks | racetrack | mountains