This exhibition features genga (original, hand-drawn sketches) from the manga Journey of Heroes: The Story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (2012), a 45-page book written by author Stacey Hayashi (born 1975) and drawn by comic artist Damon Wong (born 1976), both of whom were born and raised on O‘ahu. Navigating a Minefield is the first manga exhibition at HoMA to address the internationalization of manga and its connection to Japan’s cultural diaspora–in this case, its usage by a Japanese American author to discuss the history of Hawaiʻi’s nisei community.

In her preparation for the live-action film Go for Broke: An Origin Story (2017), Hayashi recruited Wong to illustrate key scenes from her script, and these drawings evolved into a complete graphic novel. Wong originally depicted the story in a realistic style, but in order to temper its emotional intensity, the collaborators decided to reimagine the characters as chibi—figures with endearing, infantile features.

HoMA’s presentation of the exhibition commemorates the eightieth anniversary of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team’s formation in 1943, and pays tribute to the many Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated that year. In addition to excerpts from Journey of Heroes, the exhibition includes clips from Go for Broke and memorabilia from the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, on loan from Hayashi’s collection.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Doris Duke Theatre will screen Hayashi’s film Go for Broke the weekend of December 2 to 4, 2022. Visit the What’s On calendar for details.