Downtown LA: Ansel Adams at Manzanar at JANM

On Sunday I visited the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo. I took the Red Line to Civic Center stop and walked a few blocks east on 1st street.

In addition to their extensive permanent exhibition about Japanese-American internment, they are currently running an exhibition of photographs by Ansel Adams at Manzanar. These photographs were compiled and featured in a book by Ansel Adams entitled Born Free and Equal. I greatly enjoyed this exhibition, as I am most familiar with Adams' work in landscape (of which there were also quite a few photographs) and it was interesting for me to see him capture people and their spirit.

Quoted excerpts from the book are also stenciled on the walls of the exhibition. Of these quotes I noted one by Mrs. Yaeko Nakamura, "I am glad my faith in America is strong enough to stand the test of evacuation." The exhibition also had a space where it showed a documentary on Manzanar that brought voice and movement to the images of Adams and it greatly moved me in its vivid portrayal of the struggles of these people at this conflicting time in American history.

The exhibition recently opened on November 11, 2006 and will run until February 18, 2007.

-Charity C. Tran, ExperienceLA Web Coordinator