Sketch 365 – by Scott Hulme

I was struck by this amazing photo today, while looking through Ansel Adams’ incredible images from the Manzanar War Relocation Center.  Having visited there a few years back, I was astounded at how bleak and desolate it was.  I couldn’t imagine being required to live there.  To me, that makes his collection all the more remarkable.  As Adams apparently wrote when submitting his work to the Library of Congress:

“The purpose of my work was to show how these people, suffering under a great injustice, and loss of property, businesses and professions, had overcome the sense of defeat and dispair [sic] by building for themselves a vital community in an arid (but magnificent) environment…All in all, I think this Manzanar Collection is an important historical document, and I trust it can be put to good use.”

For more of Adams’ experience of Manzanar, check out his photos and writings.

[Comments and critique always welcome]