Accused of No Crime: Japanese Incarceration in America

May 29 - July 8 , 2018

ReflectSpace Gallery at Glendale Central Library exhibit Accused of No Crime: Japanese Incarceration in America examines a massive civil rights violation committed in our own backyard by our own government: the “crimeless” imprisonment by the US government of 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry during WWII. The artists in Accused of No Crime reflect on the historical context of the incarceration and consider its impact today. The exhibit weaves a deeply personal narrative of this dark history through art, archive, installation, and documentary film to highlight the stories of interned families and showcase artists who are descendants.

Artists in exhibition include Masumi Hayashi, Mona Higuchi, Paul Kitagaki, Kevin Miyazaki. The exhibit also includes archival images by Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Clem Albers in addition to a ReflectSpace-commissioned documentary by filmmaker Avo Kambourian about the Glendale-based Yamada family who were incarcerated at Poston, Arizona.

Accused of No Crime is made possible by a grant from the California State Library’s Civil Liberties Public Education Program.

Exhibition Statement

Catalog