Laurie Zuckerman photo from Old Capulin Cemetery, Colorado
Laurie Zuckerman traveled for a week to Southern Colorado last Thanksgiving to photograph Hispanic graves in some of the most remote areas of the San Luis Valley. Much of that new work is in my current exhibit at the Toolbox Creative Gallery. But in and amongst the Spanish language tombstones, lay two Japanese gravesites, one for a child and the other presumably for an adult—the first I have ever found in all of my years of travels to the historic Hispanic lands of Southern Colorado and New Mexico. They have stood out in my mind ever since. Who were these people? What brought them to this Valley. In the most remote and forlorn "camposanto" cemetery I have ever found, these Japanese handcarved stones lay at the far end of the barren holy field on this cold November morning. After receiving a photo of a Japanese tombstone from today's New York Times via my old friend in North Carolina, I was reminded of my images and decided to share them now. You can compare them with the image from the interesting Times article, linked below.
Laurie Zuckerman photo from Old Capulin Cemetery, Colorado
Laurie Zuckerman's photo of child's grave from Old Capulin Cemetery
Laurie Zuckerman's photo of a "guardian" grave near the two Japanese tombstones.
New York Times photo from first website article below.
New York Times photo from second website article below.
Japan obviously has more trees than the high desert of the San Luis Valley.
The inscription on the stone pictured above, was quoted in the article:
"High dwellings are the peace and harmony of our descendants….
Remember the calamity of the great tsunamis.
Do not build any homes below this point."
The Japanese graves look like they are still tended. Their appearance is so rounded, so well-defined, the rock layered all just so.
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