<Begin Segment 11>

MN: Okay, now, in 1998, you organized the first Manzanar workshop with twenty-five artists. Was this the first time you returned to Manzanar since the war?

HF: Yes.

MN: What were your thoughts and feelings when you first returned in 1998?

HF: I didn't have any thoughts or any feelings.

MN: What was your subject matter?

HF: Manzanar and Alabama Hills.

MN: I know now in your subject you paint guard towers. Back when you were incarcerated in the '40s, you did not paint the guard towers, is that correct?

HF: The guard towers... no, no.

MN: But now you are able to paint the barbed wires and the guard towers.

HF: Yeah.

MN: Now, Henry, you still paint, although you're blind.

HF: Yes.

MN: What were your feelings when you started to lose your eyesight? Did you think this was the end of your painting career?

HF: Sort of.

MN: How did you find the strength to keep painting?

HF: To keep painting?

MN: Yeah, how did you find the strength?

HF: Well, my friends encouraged me.

MN: How has your painting evolved after you lost your eyesight?

HF: Well, I only paint from memory. Memory of things I've seen before.

MN: You have four children with your wife Fujiko Yasutake.

HF: Yes.

MN: Your youngest, Helen, is congenitally blind.

HF: Yes.

MN: But she's also an artist.

HF: Yes, she's somewhat of an artist.

MN: How did she get the inspiration to become an artist?

HF: She got that through going to the Braille Institute.

MN: Did you encourage her?

HF: No.

MN: She just did that on her own?

HF: Yes.

MN: How about your other children. Are they artists?

HF: No. Well, my son, he's going to... he's going to college in Ventura, and he's taking up drawing. So I don't know how long he's going to continue that.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 2009 Manzanar National Historic Site and Densho. All Rights Reserved.