Focusing on internment camps set up across Australia and NZ, Canterbury University and Flinders University art historians Richard Bullen and Tets Kimura examine some exquisite Japanese artworks produced during the extended period of war incarceration.

Their work gives a fascinating insight into the lives of these ethnic and part-Japanese PoWs and civilians, at a time of enforced detention at locations such as Cowra.

Also studied were the artworks completed by prisoners at Hay (NSW), Tatura in Victoria, Loveday and Woolenook camp (SA) and Featherston, Pahiatua and Somes Island in New Zealand.

"Australasian Japanese internment camps remain largely unheard of, and the art made by the internees has received no attention until the current research," they say in the new paper.

"Although there were some very crudely made items made by the Japanese held in Australasia, many of the works are of surprising quality and suggest a level of artistic confidence and training."

Including the Cowra breakout and a standoff at the Featherston facility, the record of camp life focuses more on a narrative of violence, misunderstanding, racism, than the social history and isolating and traumatic experience of internment.

In the largely all-male camp environment, many of the works depict alluring female figures, with the cultural symbols of kimono, geisha and umbrella depicted in various ways. The paper outlines the stories of several such artworks.

The authors wish to thank the following for their assistance in accessing items and campsites, and assistance in writing this article: Rosemary Gower, Lawrance Ryan, Brian Langer, Cowra Breakout Committee, Lurline and Arthur Knee, Bill Ballantyne, David Houston, Elsa Kelly, Alan Davies, Alison Smith, Doreen Payne, David Troughton, Migs and Rod McKenzie, Andrew McKenzie, Jan Kelly, Michael Grimshaw, and James Beattie.

More on the authors can be found athttps://news.flinders.edu.au/blog/2020/09/09/pows-drew-comfort-from-art/