2025 - 24”x24” Machine pieced, Machine quilted without a frame (domestic)

Eighty years after my grandmother was incarcerated for being Japanese American, I turned forty and I felt a mysterious draw to explore my ancestry more deeply. I tracked down both of my grandparent’s War Relocation Authority files from the National Archives and learned parts of their stories that they had not shared with their children or grandchildren.

Most shocking was the revelation that at 18 years of age my grandmother had been sent by herself to the Crystal City Family Interment Center in Texas. She had never talked the six months she lived there or the fact that she was sent there as a punishment for renouncing her US citizenship.

I was especially drawn to this part of her story since I was now living in Austin, Texas. In 2025 I had the opportunity to attend the Crystal City Pilgrimage where I met survivors and other descendants of the camp and even got to stand on the foundation of the aluminum ‘Victory Hut’ my grandmother was forced to live in.

This mini quilt represents a small portion of the map of Crystal City including the spot my grandmother lived and a portion of the camp’s irrigation pool that the inmates transformed into a swimming pool. The materials used are the same as in my Poston, Arizona quilt.

Displayed at the Dougherty Arts Center, Connecting Threads exhibit, 2025