The Third Space:
Japanese American Resettlement in Greater Philadelphia
The Third Space is a virtual exhibition that shares stories about individuals and families who underwent these experiences, told simply through the family photos and art objects they created in that period. These artifacts convey a nuanced history of the resettlement from a local community perspective. For context and comparison, the exhibit also includes photographs taken by the WRA Photography Section during both the incarceration and resettlement. Shown opposite of family photos and art objects created within camp and during the resettlement, the exhibit juxtaposes the Japanese American community’s lived experiences with government propaganda narratives that euphemize the wartime incarceration.
This exhibit was originally planned to take place August 15 – October 4, 2020 at the Fleisher Art Memorial in South Philadelphia. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent quarantine resulted in the extended closure of this exhibition venue for the foreseeable future. The unexpected postponement presented an opportunity to rethink what a presentation of this topic could look like in the virtual setting. Through our collaboration with Da Vinci Art Alliance, and with funding from the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant of the National Park Service, we were able to create a virtual exhibition space that would allow audiences to engage in real-time with exhibit artifacts as they might in a physical gallery setting.
View the exhibit at Da Vinci Art Alliance’s website below:
The decision to stage this exhibit within the environment of a residential block within an incarceration camp was not taken lightly. Multiple Japanese American community members across multiple generations were consulted throughout the design process. Our virtual exhibit space was developed through many months of collaboration with DVAA Co-Director and Exhibit Programmer Bryant Girsch, who used a video game development software called Unity to design this environment.
Given the complexity of designing such a space with the limited resources available, we knew it would be impossible to create a space with total historical accuracy to the War Relocation Authority camps. As such, this space is not meant to be a specific location among the WRA detention facilities. Rather it is an approximation of the aesthetic surroundings that many Japanese American community members witnessed during their incarceration ordeal. We discourage anyone from viewing this environment as a documentary equivalent of the conditions that Japanese Americans experienced in camp.
Explore the exhibit using the link below: