Momohara at the age of 6 with her mother 

Emily Hanako Momohara was born in Seattle, Washington where she grew up in a mixed race family. Her work centers around issues of heritage  multiculturalism, immigration and social justice. 

Momohara has exhibited nationally, most notably at the Japanese American National Museum in a two-person show titled Sugar|Islands. She has been a visiting artist at several residency programs including the Center for Photography at Woodstock, Headlands Center for the Arts, Fine Arts Work Center and Red Gate Gallery Beijing.  In 2015, her work was included in the Chongqing Photography and Video Biennial. Momohara has created socially driven billboards for For Freedoms and United Photo Industries. She lives and works in Cincinnati where she is a Professor of Studio Art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and heads the photography major.
CONTACT THE ARTIST: emily@ehmomohara.com
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SELECTED SOLO & 2-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2019
•  21c Museum Hotel, DE / TENTION / PAST: Landscapes of American Incarceration. Louisville, KY. 
•  Gold Finch Gallery, University of Saint Francis, Tending My Grandmother’s Garden, Ft. Wayne, IN. 

2018
•  Reverb Art + Design, Fruits of Labor, FOTOFOCUS Cincinnati, OH.

2017
•  21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati Metropole, Cincinnati, OH. 
•  University of Kentucky Bolivar Gallery, Tending My Grandmother’s Garden, Lexington, KY.

2015
•  Japanese American National Museum, Sugar Islands: the art of Laura Kina and Emily Hanako Momohara, Los Angelese, CA.

2014
Alice F. and Harris K. Weston Art Gallery, Aronoff Center for the Arts, Cincinnati, OH. FOTOFOCUS



SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023
•    Contemporary Art Center, Ecologies of Elsewhere curated by Chandra Frank and Portia Malatjie, Cincinnati, OH.

2022
•    Center for Photographic Arts Colorado, Experiences of Identity, Denver, CO.
•    21c Museum Hotel, Refuge: Needing, Seeking, Creating Shelter, Cincinnati, OH.

2021
•    Okinawa Prefectural Museum& Art Museum, Ryukyu Women: from subject to artists, Naha, Japan.

2019
•  International Center for Photography, Where do we go from here? A For Freedoms project, New York, NY.

2018
•  Spencer Art Museum, Power of Place, Lawrence, KS.

2017
•  Photographic Center Northwest, Notions of Home, curated by Michelle Dunn Marsh.

2015
•  Art Nova 100, National Agriculture Exhibition Center, <Beyond the Border – New Media Exhibition>. Beijing, China.
•  Carnegie Center for the Arts, Now Here: Theoretical Landscapes. Covington, KY.
•  Contemporary Art Center, After the Moment, Cincinnati, OH.
•  Changjiang Museum, Changjiang International Photography & Video Biennale. Chongqing, China.

CURATORIAL

2018
•  Replace with Fine Art, multiple artists, Pearlman Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.
•  Ohio For Freedoms, Pearlman Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Sponsored by the Steven H. Wilder Foundation and For Freedoms. Cincinnati, OH.

2012
•  Laurel Nakadate, Laurel Nakadate: FOTOFOCUS Lecture and Visiting Artist Exhibition, Polaroids from Stay the Same Never Change. Convergys Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.
•  Shana and Robert ParkeHarrison, The Architect’s Brother. Pearlman Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.

2010
•  Yamini Nayar, Lightborne Artist-in-Resident: Yamini Nayar, co-curated with James Crump.Pearlman Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.

2009
•  Hank Willis Thomas, Lightborne Artist-in-Resident: Hank Willis Thomas, Convergys Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.

2008
•  Todd Hido, Lightborne Artist-in-Resident: Todd Hido, co-curated with James Crump.

2007
•  Elinor Carucci, Crisis, Pain and Family, Convergys Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.
•  (H)4U: Photographs of Female Adolescence, Group Exhibition Pearlman Gallery, Art Academy of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH.


SELECTED LECTURES, RESIDENCIES & AWARDS

2022
•  Panel Discussion: The Feminist Art Project, Labor, virtual.
Panel Discussion: Colorado Photographic Arts Center, virtual.

2021
•  Artist Talk: Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC. virtual.
•  Panel Discussion: Art World Conference, virtual. 

2015
•  Artist in Residence, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China.

2014
•  Artist in Residence, Headlands Center for the Arts, Marion County, CA.

2013
•  Artist in Residence, Photographic Center Northwest, Seattle, WA

2012
•  Artist in Residence, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA.
•  Panel Discussion: at the Association for Asian American Studies Conference, with artists, Theodore Ganzalves, Valerie Soe and Laura Kina. Washington DC.

2011
•  Grant: Ohio Art Council Individual Excellence Grant
•  Panel Discussion: Hapa Artists. with artists, DaMae Roberts and Laura Kina. Oregon Nikkei Cultural Center, Portland, OR.

2010
•  Panel Discussion: at the Mixed Race Critical Studies Conference, with artists, Richard Lou and Laura Kina. DuPaul University, Chicago, IL.

2009
•  Artist in Residence, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts,Nebraska City, NE.

2007
•  Artist in Residence, Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock, NY.
•  Artist in Residence, Artist Enclave: I-Park, East Haddam, CT.