#13

• Title：Self-Portrait

• Artist：KOBASHIGAWA Hideo

In a dark, brown-toned painting, a man faces directly forward.

His slightly pursed lips and idle hands give a faint impression of uneasiness, yet his steady gaze shows a strong will.

Kobashigawa was born in the United States and spent his childhood in Okinawa, his parents’ homeland. At the age of fifteen, he returned to the United States.

When World War II broke out, he was drafted into the U.S. military. However, he refused to fight as a soldier and declined to swear loyalty to the United States. As a result, he was sent to an internment camp.

Before the war, he had attended an art school, and even while in the camp, he continued to study and create art. This self-portrait was painted during that period.

His firm expression conveys the harshness of life in the camp yet also reveals his quiet determination to keep pursuing art under difficult circumstances.

NEXT（#14 "Still Life of the Fish" HAEBARU Choko）

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