A photo by Leonard Frank from the “Two Views” exhibit at the Canadians War Museum on display until March 23.
The Two Views exhibit at the Canadian War Museum depicts the struggles of thousands of Japanese-Canadians and Japanese-Americans during their internment in the Second World War.
The travelling exhibit has been on display since September and will be leaving the museum on March 23.
The museum borrowed the Two Views exhibit from the Nikkei National Museum in Burnaby, B.C. Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the declaration of war on Japan, two photographers – one Canadian and one American – photographically documented the internment process of Japanese citizens in North America during 1942.
More than 22,000 Japanese-Canadians and 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully relocated to designated areas during this time.
Because of this forced internment, the Canadian government formally apologized to the Japanese-Canadian community in September 1988.
The two photographers, Canadian Leonard Frank and American Ansel Adams, took different approaches in their photography.
The exhibit explains that Adams used a more personal approach to the photographs, capturing portraits and families, while Frank was more clinical in his documentation of the relocation.
While the museum has a display about the internment of the Japanese-Canadian community in its permanent Second World War gallery, the Two Views exhibit is different in that it shows the experience of both Japanese-Canadians and Japanese-Americans.
“It’s a different way of looking at this event that occurred during the Second World War, and it’s also a cross-national experience,” says Amber Lloydlangston, the historian in charge of the exhibit.
Lloydlangston says there’s been a very positive response from the Japanese-Canadian community.
“Often Japanese-Canadians who actually experienced forced relocation regarded it as a shameful experience, and they were reluctant to speak about it,” she says.
“For subsequent generations who didn’t live it, they knew that it happened, but didn’t know much about it. They’ve said that because of this exhibition, there’s been more conversation about what happened, why it happened, and how it was experienced.”
David Hiltz, a visitor to the exibit from Vancouver, viewed the exhibit through a more personal lens, carefully examining each of Frank’s photographs.
“My girlfriend is of Japanese descent, and her mother was born in one of these internment camps. I’ve never been so moved by anything. Being personally attached to it, it means a whole lot more to me.”
Centretown resident Cpl. James Hogan of the First Hussars in the Canadian Forces has a connection to the exhibit as well.
“There’s a plaque commemorating interned Japanese-Canadians at our base in Petawawa,” says Hogan, who recently visited the exhibit.
While most of the internment camps were located in B. C., others were located in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario, including a small camp at Petawawa, called Camp 33. It held 292 Japanese-Canadian men in May 1942.