Exhibit to Feature Images by Noted L.A. Photographer Shane Sato
Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC) today announced the launching of “Portraits of Courage: Photographs by Shane Sato,” an exhibition featuring intimate color and black-and-white portraits of Japanese American veterans of World War II. The emotive images capture the essence and character of Nisei (second-generation) Japanese American soldiers, and reflect each veteran’s story of commitment, duty and patriotism.
The photo exhibit will be on display from May 3-June 10, 2018, on the first floor of the historic Nishi Hongwanji building on the plaza adjacent to GFBNEC’s offices at 355 E. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. “Portraits of Courage: Photographs by Shane Sato” will be free of charge during regular hours of GFBNEC’s permanent “Defining Courage” exhibition. Operating hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursday, 12 p.m.-8 p.m.; and Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed on Monday.
The photography exhibit highlights images from Sato’s 2017 book “The Go For Broke Spirit,” which includes portraits, personal snapshots and biographies of more than 80 Nisei veterans of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service. Many of the Nisei WWII veterans joined the military from Hawaii, then a territory, or from U.S. incarceration camps on the mainland, where their families remained imprisoned. The renowned 100th/442nd remains the most highly decorated military unit in U.S. history for its size and length of service.
Sato, a Los Angeles-based professional photographer, devoted more than 18 years to the Nisei veterans’ project, initially creating a series of black-and-white portraits and later expanding to color images of Nisei veterans in vintage military uniforms. Working with oral historian Robert Horsting, Sato captured the individual veterans’ personal stories and pictures in “The Go For Broke Spirit.” Sato and Horsting continue their work on a second volume of “The Go For Broke Spirit” that will include more portraits of Nisei veterans from across the country.
Sato said he felt driven to immortalize the Nisei veterans’ legacy through his photography. “These men fought the battle for freedom and equality, risking the ultimate sacrifice for a better future for me and future generations,” Sato said. “This is not just Japanese American history–it is American history.” For more information, upcoming locations and dates for “Portraits of Courage: Photographs by Shane Sato,” please visit https://www.goforbroke.org/visit/exhibit/revolving_exhibits.php.
Note to Media: “Go For Broke” was the motto of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated Army unit composed of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland. The term was Hawaiian slang for “shooting the works,” or risking everything for the big win in gambling—as the Nisei soldiers did while fighting in the field in WWII and facing prejudice at home in the U.S.
About Go For Broke National Education Center
Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that educates the public on the valor of Japanese American veterans of World War II and their contributions to democracy. Our goal is to inspire new generations to embody the Japanese American veterans’ core values of courage, sacrifice, equality, humility and patriotism. Founded in 1989, GFBNEC maintains the Go For Broke Monument and the interactive “GFBNEC’s Defining Courage Exhibition” in downtown Los Angeles, as well as extensive oral histories and archives, education and training programs, and other initiatives. For more information, please visit www.goforbroke.org.
Media Contacts:
For GFBNEC
Pauline Yoshihashi
Strategic Communications
323/683-8191 Direct
pyoshihashi@earthlink.net