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Photo Exhibit by Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams Commemorates Japanese American Internment


February 11, 2009 — In honor of the Japanese internment camp Day of Remembrance, the University of Utah’s American West Center will sponsor an exhibit featuring photographs taken by renowned American photographers Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams. These stunning photographs depict the experience of over 110,000 people removed from their homes and incarcerated during World War II in desolate compounds surrounded by armed guards.

Commissioned by the U.S. War Relocation Authority, Lange’s photographs were so controversial that they were confiscated and impounded by the government. Forgotten in the National Archive for fifty years, the recently discovered photographs will be displayed at the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building Gallery at the University of Utah from Feb. 19 to March 13. Located at 215 S. Central Campus Drive, the exhibit will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

In commemoration of the Day of Remembrance, Gary Okihiro, professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University, will present a lecture related to his book Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment. Free and open to the public, the lecture is on Thursday, Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. at the Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building at the University of Utah. The ethnic studies and Asian Pacific American studies programs of the University of Utah are sponsors of the event.

For more information on Day of Remembrance events in Salt Lake City, please visit http://www.planbtheater.org/. The photo exhibit appears courtesy of the Puffin Foundation.