Making Waves

In the 1920s and ’30s, Japanese Americans produced and exhibited a body of critically acclaimed art photography, much of it modernist in style and sensibility. Tragically, many of those photographs were lost during the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans by the U.S. government following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Making Waves: Japanese American Photography, 1920–1940 takes an in-depth look at this lost legacy, presenting 103 surviving works from that period alongside artifacts and ephemera that help bring the era to life. The exhibition commemorates the 30th anniversary of the first comprehensive exhibition of Japanese American photography, titled Japanese Photography in America, 1920–1940, also curated by Dennis Reed. Making Waves examines issues of artistic and personal freedom as well as Japanese American contributions to modern art. 

Exhibition overview from the JANM website