It was an emotional opportunity for Cynthia to meet some of those who had known her grandmother, or who were the descendants of the families that Ella spent so much time sketching and considered friends during her years in Topaz.
So many connections “found.”
If you or a relative or friend knows of the whereabouts (even just photos) of Ella’s “missing” sketches, please reach out to us and help Cynthia preserve more of her grandmother’s legacy.
Thanks to Cynthia Wright, Valerie Honderich, Valerie’s granddaughter, Christina, Kimi Hill, Kay Yatabe, Dan and Bobby Hirano, Asaye Takagi, May Saito Takashima and her daughter Akiko and granddaughter Lily Belle, Brad Shirakawa, Tracy Hui, Mari Nakamura, Kei Kodani, Mia Kodani, Shoshana Arai, Jill Shiraki, Justin Doi, and all the other individuals who helped to make this event a success!
If you haven’t yet read Cynthia’s story, here’s a link: The Lost Sketches of Topaz
To register for our three remaining events, click here: Topaz Stories 2024 Exhibit
The Topaz Stories Team
Contact us if you have a Topaz Story to share.
Follow us on Instagram @topazstories
Media Coverage:
Read ‘Topaz Stories’ exhibit travels Utah showing human side of WWII internment (KSL.com, May 24, 2024)
Read ‘Topaz Stories’ mines the history of a Japanese American internment camp (ParkRecord, May 18, 2024)
Read Remembering Japanese American Internment–Day of Remembrance (Rosie the Riveter Trust blog, March 24, 2024)
Read Internee’s story told with ‘Topaz Collages’ (Wheel of Dharma, Vol. 5, Issue 3, March 2023).
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)