Missing pieces from a moment of national injustice
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, 125,000 Japanese American citizens on the West Coast were forcibly sent without trial to incarceration camps across the U.S. My grandmother’s family—including my young grandmother, Mari Matsumoto—lost their California home and belongings when they were sent to the Colorado River “Relocation Center” in Poston, Arizona.
Eighty years later, I joined the Poston Pilgrimage with thirty-five Matsumoto descendants and relatives. I photographed many moments—mostly family reunions—but these six images best convey the enduring legacy of my grandmother’s family and the weight of their story nearly a century later.
All were taken in the newly reopened auditorium of Camp 1’s elementary school, shortly after its ribbon-cutting ceremony, using a Fujifilm X100F.
