Meri Mitsuyoshi remembers the painting from her childhood. It hung unobtrusively in her grandparents’ bedroom. Painted by her grandfather, Saburo Tamura, who had been a chrysanthemum grower in Redwood City, CA before the war, it had no title. No one ever talked about it. It was just always there.
When Meri made her first pilgrimage to Topaz, she was stunned to recognize the landscape. Although few remnants of the camp survived, Meri recognized the outline of the faroff mountains, the parched desert terrain, from her grandfather’s painting.
Like many Issei, Saburo turned to art classes at the Topaz Art School to while away his time in incarceration. After his passing, his painting of Topaz went to his daughter’s house, where it now hangs in the living room, where all can see it.
Read Meri’s story, “Untitled, by Saburo Tamura.”
The Topaz Stories Team
JOIN US on Saturday, July 16 from 11-12 noon for a presentation on “Topaz Stories and the WWII Incarceration of Japanese Americans” at the SF Main Library. Click the link for details.
Plan to visit the Topaz Stories Exhibit in Salt Lake City (through December 2022).
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Watch Topaz survivors tell their stories (abc4 news, 4/22/2022)
Listen to the “In the Hive” podcast with interviews with Ann Dion, Jonathan Hirabayashi, and Topaz survivors Jeanie Kashima and Joseph Nishimura (KCPW, 4/28/2022)
Read How a Utah exhibit about Topaz Camp looks to find empathy in ‘an ugly stain on American history (ksl.com, 4/22/2022)
Read “Topaz Stories rise from the dust,” (Department of Culture & Community Engagement, 4/2022)
Listen to KQED Forum, Day of Remembrance interview with Ruth Sasaki, 2/15/2022
Listen to Max Chang and Ruth Sasaki interviewed (KRCL RadioActive, 2/9/2022
Read On Topaz Stories and ‘Authentic Voice’, the Discover Nikkei interview with Ruth Sasaki (10/14/2022)
Listen to Remembering the Japanese American Incarceration, the Topaz Stories podcast with Ruth Sasaki and Jonathan Hirabayashi (6/2/2021)