Toyo Miyatake’s Camera

This art installation, just a stone’s throw from the Japanese American National Museum, memorializes issei Toyo Miyatake’s contraband camera, which he constructed to capture camp life at Manzanar during World War II.
After Executive Order 9066 was issued, Miyatake smuggled a camera lens into the internment camp and began taking candid photos of his surroundings — from the barbed wire, watch towers, and tar paper-​covered barracks to the faces of internees making the best of the situation.
His photos provide a rare perspective that the American government did its best to stifle at the time, producing several propaganda films showing Japanese-​Americans happy to be imprisoned. His work is on par with Anne Frank’s diary.
The statue of Miyatake’s camera stands in front of a former Buddhist temple and from time to time projections of his work appear from inside one of the building’s windows. It’s quite poignant.
Not far from it is also the Go For Broke Memorial, another must-​visit if you come by the museum for some Japanese American history.