Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

Bainbridge Island, WA, United States

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Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

Bainbridge Island, WA, United States

Firm

EDX Exhibits

Type

Cultural › Cultural Center Memorial

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2012

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial honors Americans forced from their homes during WWII.

Working in close collaboration with Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community members, Seattle architect Jones and Jones, artist Steve Gardner, and fabricator Turner Exhibits, EDX designed the interpretive experience for the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial wall. The wall commemorates the strength and perseverance of 276 Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes during World War II, the first community in the nation impacted by Executive Order 9066.

Located on a site of historical significance, the memorial marks the path walked by the prisoners to the dock to be boarded onto ferries toward their eventual sites of incarceration at Manzanar and later, Minidoka.

EDX collaborated closely with Jones and Jones to create an evocative, reflective experience that slowly evolves as visitors move down the wall towards the location of the dock. The series of friezes, intentionally understated and spare, evoke a linear story of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American community: their active role in the island
community as farmers, millworkers, teachers, students, and neighbors; their forced removal from the island; their
incarceration; and ultimately the return of 150 to the island.

The memorial wall honors each of the individuals incarcerated by name–hand stamped into clay–and tells the broader story through quotes, brief interpretive narrative, and a series of ceramic friezes created by Steve Gardner. Tasteful hooks incorporated alongside interpretive elements, allow visitors to leave behind origami cranes to honor those who
suffered.

The importance of the site was recognized when it was added as a satellite unit of Minidoka National Historic Site.

The memorial brings the story of the Bainbridge Island Japanese Americans to future generations with the very timely motto “Nidoto Nai Yoni”—Let it not happen again!