Past Exhibitions
Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo
Rediscover the work of three trailblazing women—Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo—in Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo. This exhibition reveals a broader picture of the American experience through artworks and life stories of three Japanese American women from the pre–World War II generation, seen together for the first time. With paintings and drawings by Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo, the exhibition spans eight decades and reveals both the range and depth of these artists' careers and connections that have not been explored previously.
About the Exhibition
Curated by Dr. ShiPu Wang, the Coats Family Chair in the Arts and Professor of Art History, Department of Global Arts, Media, and Writing Studies in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities, and Arts at the University of California, Merced, curator of Chiura Obata: An American Modern, and author of The Other American Moderns. Matsura, Ishigaki, Noda, Hayakawa, Pictures of Belonging will be exhibited at Monterey Museum of Art as the only stop in Northern California before its final return to JANM in late 2026. By taking the exhibition to locations that are connected with the artists' histories—such as Utah, where Hibi and Okubo were incarcerated, and California, where all three artists regularly exhibited in the pre-war period—Pictures of Belonging leverages the power of place to create public programming opportunities tailored to local residents and histories.
For more information about the exhibition, visit janm.org/pictures-of-belonging.
Support for the Winter 2026 Exhibition Season provided by Suzanne Taunt.
Pictures of Belonging is curated by ShiPu Wang, Coats Family Chair in the Arts, and professor at the University of California, Merced, and organized by the Japanese American National Museum. The exhibition is made possible through support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. In addition, this project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lead support of Pictures of Belonging at Monterey Museum of Art is provided by Barbara Schilling and Richard Carr and the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, with additional support from the Jim and Diane Coward Family Trust and the Tanimura Family Foundation.
Miki Hayakawa (1899–1953), Untitled (Young Man Playing Ukulele), c. 1932–1936, oil on canvas, 20 x 26 in., Collection Monterey Museum of Art, Gift of Mateo Lettunich, 2004.062.
