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Washington, DC | Curator-Led Tour of “Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo” at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
March 20 | 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Join ArtTable for a curator-led tour of Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, led by Melissa Ho, Curator of 20th Century Art.
Miki Hayakawa (1899-1953), Hisako Hibi (1907-1991), and Miné Okubo (1912-2001) were three of the most active and critically acclaimed American artists of Japanese descent in the years leading up to World War II. Their careers spanned eight decades and four US states, yet the full extent of their contributions remain underrecognized within twentieth-century American art history.
Pictures of Belonging is an unprecedented examination of these three trailblazing figures. By tracing their artistic development before, during, and after the mass incarceration and displacement of Japanese Americans during World War II, the exhibition offers a nuanced view of how these women continued to explore and experiment with new artistic expression throughout their lives. Created during tumultuous decades in modern US history, their paintings, along with their stories of resilience, remind us of art’s power in the face of adversity and challenge.
Click here to read more about the exhibition.
Please review the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s accessibility page for available accommodations.
Program Admission:
- ArtTable Members – $15
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Please note that ArtTable registration fees go toward administrative costs for the nonprofit organization. The Smithsonian American Art Museum does not charge an admission fee.
About Melissa Ho
Melissa Ho is the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s curator of 20th-century art; she joined the museum’s staff in September 2016. Ho is responsible for research, acquisitions and exhibitions related to the museum’s collections focusing on art since 1945. She currently is leading an initiative to expand and enrich the representation of Asian American experiences, perspectives and artistic accomplishment in the museum’s collection and public displays.
Recent projects include “American Voices and Visions: Modern and Contemporary Art” (2023), the first phase of a multiyear renewal and reinstallation of the museum’s permanent collection galleries, and “Composing Color: The Paintings of Alma Thomas” (2023), which will travel to several venues in the United States. Ho organized the critically acclaimed exhibition “Artists Respond: American Art and the Vietnam War, 1965-1975” (2019) and “Artist to Artist” (2021).
Previously, Ho worked as a curator at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden from 2011 to 2016, where she organized “Barbara Kruger: Belief+Doubt” (2012), “Salvatore Scarpitta: Traveler” (2014) and “Shirin Neshat: Facing History” (2015) with Melissa Chiu. She also co-curated with Evelyn Hankins “At the Hub of Things” (2014), a re-installation of the museum’s collection.
Ho earned a bachelor’s degree in studio art and art history from Princeton University and a master’s degree in art history from the University of Pennsylvania.
Image credits:
Miki Hayakawa, One Afternoon, ca. 1935, oil on canvas, 40 x 40 in., New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, Gift of Preston McCrossen in memory of his wife, the artist, 1954, 520.23P
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