Japanese Americans faced significant challenges in the aftermath of World War II, with many of them living in the shadows of society. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and being forcibly removed from their homes and placed in internment camps, and despite the end of the war and the release of those who were interned, Japanese Americans continued to face social and economic obstacles that prevented them from fully integrating into American society.

The community consistently faced discrimination in the workplace, with employers around the Nation reluctant to hire Japanese Americans, disregarding their qualifications. Anti-Japanese sentiment that persisted after the war, did not disseminate, leaving many Japanese Americans forced to work low-paying jobs or start their own businesses in order to make ends meet. While still struggling as a community with beginning to assimilate into American culture. After spending years living in internment camps, they had missed out on key opportunities to learn about American culture and customs. This made it challenging for them to adapt to life outside the camps, and many struggled to connect with their peers and build social networks.

This work by Arthur Okumura depicts just what so many families and communities faced after the war, it likely is depicting himself and his own family. The artist was 18 years old when this work was produced and he had just begun his studies at the Art Institute of Chicago and beginning to try and find his place in the art world and this country. The three figures are depicted in foreground and in darkness,hidden, nearly displaced and the one woman in the front is dressed in color unphased by what is behind her.

Biography:Arthur Okamura (1932–2009) was a Japanese American artist who rose to prominence in the 1960s as a book illustrator and member of an artist community based in Bolinas, California.

Born in Long Beach, Okamura grew up in Southern California with his family. During World War II, he and his family were detained at the Santa Anita Assembly Center and later transferred to the Granada War Relocation Center in Colorado, where they were incarcerated for three years. Okamura was 10 years old when he entered the “internment camps.”

After the war, his family was released and moved to Chicago. There, Okamura began his art career at a silkscreen poster studio at age 15. After graduating high school, he attended the Art Institute of Chicago, Yale School of Art, and University of Chicago. He held his solo first exhibition at the Frank Ryan Gallery in Chicago and was later awarded a fellowship to study painting in Mallorca.

In 1956, Okamura moved from Chicago back to California. While he initially lived in San Francisco, he eventually settled in Bolinas. Once established in the artist community there, Okamura illustrated multiple books of poetry by friends. In 1971, he created the pastel drawings for the television movie “The People.” In addition to working as an artist, Okamura taught at the California College of the Arts in Oakland for 31 years, retiring in 1997 as professor emeritus