Art and the Human Spirit, Part II

Thought for the day: Man never made any material as resilient as the human spirit. [Bern Williams]

[PART I can be found in the previous post.]

This statue is located outside the Bremen Jewish Heritage and Holocaust Museum in Atlanta. It was at that museum that my hubby and I gained a more visceral understanding of  the internment of Japanese-Americans during the second world war. We went there to see a special exhibit of some of those internees' artwork.

The sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being. [Carl Jung]

Estelle Ishigo

On the day we attended,  a group of  Japanese-American educators were also there to teach a bunch of teachers and others about this time in history. (How lucky was THAT, huh?) Some of the presenters lived in one of the camps personally, or had family members who had, and others served as American soldiers during the war.

And one of the presenters showed a film. An amazing film. Days of Waiting won a short documentary Academy Award for creator Stephen Okasaka in 1990, and it tells the story of Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian woman who chose to go to an internment camp with her Japanese husband.  Here's a very short snippet of the movie, just to give you a taste:

It is the mission of art to remind man from time to time that he is human...  [Ben Shahn]

Okay, I don't want to turn this into a three-part post, so let me get right to showing you some of the artwork in the exhibit. Ready?

The Art of Gaman is the exhibit's title . Gaman is a Japanese term from Zen Buddhism that means enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.

One of Estelle Ishigo's many drawings.

Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.  [Pablo Picasso]

These flowers were made from pipe cleaners, and put into mayonnaise jars.

The artist has a special task. That of reminding men of their humanity and the promise of their creativity.  [Lewis Mumford]

Man must live and create. Create to the point of tears. [Albert Camus]

Sorry about the light reflection in this shot, but two things I found especially poignant about this portrait are the pillow and wall-hanging, which show pride and support for this man's son, who was away ... fighting in the war ... as a member of the U.S. military.

The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. [Ernest Hemingway]

Just as a farmer provides sustenance for the body, the artist provides sustenance for the soul. [Arturo Tello]










There were many, many more things to be seen in the exhibit, like wood carvings, and some amazing jewelry and decorative pieces made out of colored string. But I hope what you've seen here was enough to provide you with a touch of understanding and inspiration. In spite of the circumstances, the human spirit prevailed.

            Art is the glorification of the human spirit. [Hans Hoffman]

For those of you who live in close proximity to Atlanta, this uplifting exhibit will be open until the end of May. Definitely worth the trip. Bremen's permanent holocaust museum is worth seeing, too, but there is nothing uplifting to see there.

Just haunting...

                           Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside you. [Ralph Waldo Emerson]

Art and the Human Spirit, Part I

Thought for the day:  Creativity takes courage.  [Henri Matisse]

Survival takes courage. Creativity takes courage. The ability to create beauty while struggling to survive under disheartening conditions takes the most courage of all.

It is in our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light. [Aristotle Onassis]

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, fear prompted the United States to incarcerate all persons living in the country who were of Japanese descent. More than 120,000 men, women, and children, most of whom were American citizens, were transported to what the government euphemistically called relocation centers.

If it were not for hopes, the heart would break. 
[Thomas Fuller]

For many of these Japanese-American citizens, this country was the only one they knew. This is where they were born, raised and educated. Where they owned homes and businesses, and where they raised their own families.

They could hang signs declaring their love of this country, and they could wave the flag, and pledge their allegiance. No matter. They couldn't change the way they looked.




Strictly limited to what they could take with them, these people were forced to leave behind most of their possessions, their homes and businesses, and were packed into buses for relocation to numerous camps around the country, where they lived in barracks, horse stalls, and various makeshift buildings, and were confined within barbed wire-topped fences under armed guard. For three and a half years.

           Yet even so, even under these conditions, creativity survived.

The purpose of art is nothing less than the upliftment of the human spirit. [Pope John Paul II]

In light of the times, do you think the internment was justified? Did it protect the country from them ... or did it maybe protect THEM from the hatred of their fellow citizens?

                                               On Friday, the story continues...

                               Until then, take care of yourselves. And each other.