| TOYO MIYATAKE: INFINITE SHADES OF GRAY (2001) |
| SYNOPSIS |
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Elegant and penetrating, TOYO MIYATAKE: INFINITE SHADES OF GRAY positions this immigrant photographer within the canon of American Art. In Los Angeles, Toyo Miyatake is reknowned as Little Tokyo's foremost studio photographer. To others he is known for having smuggled a lens and film holder into one of America's WWII concentration camps and being the first to capture life behind barbed wire with a makeshift camera made of scrapwood. Yet it was his little known artistic pursuits before the war that honed his discerning eye. INFINITE SHADES OF GRAY presents Miyatake's pictorial and modernist photographs for the first time since they were exhibited in the 1920s and 1930s. Also included are never-before-seen images of Manzanar, the WWII camp Miyatake was incarcerated in, and recently-discovered home movies of Little Tokyo taken by Miyatake.
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| REALPLAYER MEDIA CLIPS: |
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Introduction: Hirokazu Kosaka, Buddhist priest and friend of Toyo Miyatake describes the cultural basis for Miyatake's asthetic:
"In architecture in Japan, there is a veranda. Its a Sanskrit word, a Buddhist word, its 'to meet.' And this is the space where man meets nature. Its not yes or no, it could be maybe. Its not white or black, its infinitesimal of gray. And this gray space – that's what Miyatake was trying to create."
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Little Tokyo in the 1920's: Karin Higa, Senior Curator of Art at the Japanese American National Museum, describes LA's Little Tokyo District during the 1920's. Miyatake was at the peak of his artistic development during this period, using light and shadows in a way that is quite modern even by today's standards.
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Japanese American Pictorialists: Toyo Miyatake was one of many Japanese American photographers who gained worldwide acclaim during the pictorialist era (ca. 1920-1945). One critic 1928 wrote, "The influence of this group has put a lasting mark on photography in this country, the repercussions of which are echoing throughout the world."
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Life in Camp: Like 120,000 other Japanese Americans, Toyo Miyatake and his family were incarcerated during World War II. Realizing the importance of his position as a photographer, Miyatake vowed to document life in the camps so that future generations would never repeat such an injustice.
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| PRODUCTION
CREDITS |
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Director: Robert A. Nakamura
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| Executive Producer: Karen L. Ishizuka |
| Editor: Gail Yasunaga |
| Cinematography: John Esaki, Dean Hayasaka |
| Original score by: David Iwataki |
| 30 min. Color |
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| Made with the support from the National Endowment for the Arts, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, and the UCLA Endowed Chair for Japanese American Studies. |
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