It is poetic yet chilling that the Japan American National Museum is the venue for With Memories on Their Backs: Honoring the Plight of Refugees, the latest from the performance group Voices Carry. Inside the museum are exhibits capturing the sometimes harrowing incarceration of the Japanese-American population in internment/detention/concentration (pick your preferred label) camps during World War II.

At a time when refugees are drowning off North Africa as Europe closes its doors and refugees from Central America and Mexico trying to seek asylum in the U.S. are drowning in the Rio Grande or being incarcerated and children taken from their families, this performance could not be more timely. The important proximity to the museum is underscored as a former WWII internment camp in Oklahoma was recently reactivated to house minor migrant children separated from their parents.

Japanese American National Museum Plaza, Sat., Aug. 10, 2 & 3:30 p.m., free. voicescarryinc.net.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.