Obata used his art talent as a tool for documenting ongoings wherever he traveled. In 1942 when he was incarcerated at the Topaz detention camp he was shocked by the living conditions that he and all the other Japanese Americans had to endure.
This painting by Obata showcases the bare amenities the prisoners were allowed, and how a dust storm could completely ravage their living spaces because they were provided with no defense. Obata's paintings are some of the most powerful images that came out of the Japanese American concentration camps. Japanese American captives were not allowed to have cameras. Artists like Obata and Koho witnessed and recorded the segregation and injustices done to the Japanese people.