(Gila River, Arizona, 1945 - 2006, Cleveland, Ohio)
1995
Panoramic photo collage of chromogenic prints
48 x 92 in. (121.9 x 233.7 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Museum Acquisition Fund
2011.44
© Masumi Hayashi
Masumi Hayashi’s large-scale photo collages subvert the tradition of the panoramic photograph. Works in this format were historically used to document tourist attractions and dramatic landscapes. Here, Hayashi combines nearly 100 small photos to create a single, unified image of the Manzanar War Relocation Center, which became a national historic site in 1992. The United States interned more than 110,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese descent in concentration camps during World War II. Hayashi was born at another camp, the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona.