Emily Hanako Momohara is a mixed-race Japanese American, artist, educator, and activist. Her artwork centers around issues of heritage, multiculturalism, immigration, and social justice. She has exhibited internationally, most notably in the Changjiang International Photography and Video Biennale in Chongqing, China, the Okinawa Prefectural Museum of Art, and a 2-person exhibition at the Japanese American National Museum. She has been a resident artist at the Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown MA; Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito CA; Center for Photography at Woodstock, Woodstock NY among many others. In 2023, she was awarded a Truth and Reconciliation Grant from Artworks and she has participated in many public art projects such as the For Freedoms Billboard 50 State Initiative.
Momohara serves as a Professor of Studio Art at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. However, claims to profess nothing. She enjoys making discoveries with her students about art and its power. She sits on the boards of the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati and OPAWL: Building AAPI Feminist Leadership in Ohio.
