Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo

Exhibition Info
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Fisher Brooks Gallery
Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building
Curated by
This nationally touring exhibition is curated and organized by Dr. ShiPu Wang, the Coats Family Chair in the Arts and Professor of Art History, University of California, Merced; The coordinating curator at PAFA is Dr. Anna O. Marley, Kenneth R. Woodcock Curator of Historical American Art.
'Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo' reveals a broader picture of the American experience through the artworks and life stories of three trailblazing Japanese American women in dialogue with each other for the first time.

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 seventy paintings and drawings as well as four sketchbooks by Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo, this exhibition spans eight decades and reveals both the range and depth of these artists’ oeuvres and connections that have not been explored previously.

Pictures of Belonging will be on view at PAFA October 2, 2025-January 4, 2026

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, and commissioner of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and organized by the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California (JANM), Pictures of Belonging is traveling to four venues across the US before its final stop at 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.

Pictures of Belonging: Miki Hayakawa, Hisako Hibi, and Miné Okubo 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. 

Featured image: Miné Okubo, Boy, Goat, Fruit, before 1972, Acrylic on canvas, 60 × 51 in. Riverside City College, Gift of the Miné Okubo Estate, Riverside, California, 2016.1.34, Photo by Tom Callas.

Oil on canvas self-portrait painting of a Hisako Hibi.
Hisako Hibi, Study for a Self-Portrait, ca. 1944, Oil on canvas, 21-3/4 × 17-1/2 in. Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Ibuki Hibi Lee, 99.63.1
Oil on canvas painting of a person laying down on their stomach, looking away with their head propped on their hand, with oranges in the foreground.
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, Photo by Blair Clark
Tempera on hardboard depicting a group of people focused on a grocer weighing produce.
Miné Okubo, Grocer Weighing Produce, 1940, Tempera on hardboard, 43-1/2 x 39 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum Purchase. © The Miné Okubo Charitable Corporation. Photo by Lucia RM Martino. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Acrylic on canvas painting in various bright colors depicting a boy holding grapes, a goat, flowers, and the fruit that the boy is weighing.
Miné Okubo, Boy, Goat, Fruit, before 1972, Acrylic on canvas, 60 × 51 in. Riverside City College, Gift of the Miné Okubo Estate, Riverside, California, 2016.1.34, Photo by Tom Callas
Oil on canvas painting of a Black man wearing a blue suit in front of a red background.
Miki Hayakawa, Portrait of a Negro, 1926. Oil on canvas, 26 x 20 in. (66.04 x 50.8 cm); frame, 36 x 29-1/2 x 4 in. (91.44 x 74.93 x 10.16 cm). Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Purchased with funds provided by Mrs. James D. Macneil, M.2004.27.2. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA
Oil on canvas painting depicting a view from a window overlooking buildings and trees with a flower arrangement in the foreground.
Miki Hayakawa, From My Window, 1935. Oil on canvas, 28 x 28 in. Collection of Sandra and Bram Dijkstra on loan at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, Pasadena, California.
Tempera on panel depiction of a woman with black hair and an orange dress against a dark orange background.
Miné Okubo, Portrait Study, ca. 1937, Tempera on panel, 23-1/2 x 19-1/2 in. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum Purchase. © The Miné Okubo Charitable Corporation. Photo by Lucia RM Martino. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.