Class: Graphic Design 5: Thesis
Instructors: Leslie Becker & Michael Vanderbyl

In 1988 Congress approved reparations to be distributed to the 60,000 surviving Japanese-Americans who were interned during World War II. My mother received her redress in the early 1990s prior to my application to art school, and it was this money that funded my education at CCA. There was no question that my last project in school would be dedicated to my mother and her family, who were interned at Tule Lake, California, as well as all the other Japanese-Americans interned during the war.

The final form of my thesis project was an installation of 1,184 folded paper boats configured in the barrack layout of the camp at Tule Lake. The paper boats were reminiscent of the ones my mother made as a child, each boat was numbered with a barrack address and contained imagery or text from my research. The boats symbolized the quiet dignity of those interned, while the interiors contained the multiple layers--injustice, prejudice, fear, patriotism, and honor that shaped this time in history.