Join us for the opening of Buried Years, presented at the Venice Heritage Museum by the Advanced Photography students at Venice Arts.

In 2024–25, these students embarked on a special project, examining archival materials, visiting historical sites, conducting interviews, and creating artwork in response to the forced removal and internment of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles during WWII.

Blocks from the Venice Arts campus is the Venice Japanese American Memorial Monument, marking the historic departure point to the Manzanar internment camp in the Eastern Sierras. Our students followed the same route, traveled to Manzanar, stayed overnight, and photographed throughout the National Historic Site.

The results of this twenty-four-week project are this exhibition in VHM's back gallery and a zine—a creative effort to connect this history to contemporary civil liberty threats and the personal lives of the participating students.