JANM to Host Wakayama Sister Museum Ceremony on May 22

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) will host a signing ceremony on May 22, 2024 to commemorate its new sister museum affiliation with the Museum of Modern Art, Wakayama (MOMAW). 

MOMAW is one of Japan’s leading art museums and is the fifth oldest modern art museum in Japan. MOMAW has continuously conducted research on prewar Japanese artists from Wakayama who settled in the US and has been focusing on the Prefecture’s emigration history to contextualize the history of art on a larger scale. JANM, located in the Los Angeles Little Tokyo community, is a Smithsonian Affiliate with programming that reaches across the nation and globally. The Museum houses the largest repository of Japanese American history and culture, including items from Wakayama Prefecture and other parts of Japan, and is also considered a center for civil rights.

Both museums joined hands with the monumental exhibition, Transbordering: Migration and Art Across Wakayama and the USA, which featured prewar art scenes highlighting several artists from Wakayama, connecting the narrative to the Japanese and Japanese American communities mainly on the West Coast. The exhibition is part of a three-year research project about Japanese immigrant artists from Wakayama which also includes an annual symposium and educational curriculum.

“By featuring stories and artwork about Wakayama and the US in Transbordering for the first time, we connected two important places with the artistic pursuits and accomplishments of artists who called both home. To recognize the significance of our collaboration with MOMAW and to deepen our partnership while utilizing our various resources, we are so pleased to work together as sister museums to continue to connect our collective pasts with the power of these places,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 100 exhibitions onsite while traveling 40 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. JANM is free every third Thursday of the month. On all other Thursdays, JANM is free from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.