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Masumi Hayashi (photographer)
Encyclopedia
Dr. Masumi Hayashi was an American
photographer and artist who taught art at Cleveland State University
, in Cleveland, Ohio
, for 24 years. She won a Cleveland Arts Prize, three Ohio Arts Council awards, a Fulbright fellowship; awards from National Endowment for the Arts
, Arts Midwest, and Florida Arts Council; as well as a 1997 Civil Liberties Educational Fund research grant.
Dr. Hayashi created a large body of fine art "panoramic photo-collage" or photo collage involving shots taken on a tripod in successive rings, and later constructed as a more-or-less than 360 degree view. Of the over 200 pieces she created in this format, primary subject matter generally fit into the following series: WWII Internment Camps of Americans of Japanese Ancestry, Post-Industrial Landscape, EPA Superfund Sites, Abandoned Prisons, War and Military Sites, Commissions, City Works, and Sacred Architectures. Dr. Hayashi created the website: www.masumihayashi.com ("American Concentration Camps") in 1997 before the Japanese American Internment
during World War II was widely discussed in the media. In 2004, Dr. Hayashi launched the www.masumimuseum.com, which is now an online archive of her work.
Hayashi's works are represented in numerous public and private collections , including the International Center of Photography
(NYC), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, the Cleveland Museum of Art
, the George Eastman House
in Rochester, NY, the Columbus Museum of Art
, the Victoria and Albert Museum
in London, and the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Koblenz, Germany.
land.
Hayashi grew up in Watts
(an area in Los Angeles, California
) and graduated from Jordan High School. As an adolescent, she worked at her parents’ store, Village Market, on Compton Avenue. She attended UCLA and later went on to attend Florida State University
in Tallahassee, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in 1975 and Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977.
Hayashi joined the faculty of Cleveland State University as Assistant Professor of Photography in 1982, and became a full professor in 1996. During her tenure at CSU, she received numerous awards, including an Arts Midwest, NEA fellowship in 1987, a Civil Liberties Educational Fund research fellowship in 1997, a Fulbright Grant in 2003, and Individual Artist Fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council on three different occasions. She was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize for Visual Arts in 1994.
Masumi Hayashi is perhaps best known for creating striking panoramic photocollages, using smaller color photographs (typically 4-by-6-inch prints) like tiles in a mosaic. Many of these large panoramic pieces involve more than one hundred smaller photographic prints; the rotational scope of the assembled collage can be 360 degrees or even 540 degrees. Much of her work explores socially uncomfortable spaces, including prisons, relocation camps, and Superfund cleanup sites.
Later in her career, her artwork reflected a deep interest in sacred sites, and she travelled several times to India and other places in Asia, to photograph spiritually significant spaces.
Masumi Hayashi (at age 60) and her neighbor, the 51-year-old artist and sculptor John Jackson (who also worked as a maintenance man at the apartment complex), were shot to death by a 29-year-old neighbor named Jacob Cifelli in their apartment building on Detroit Avenue on the West Side of Cleveland, Ohio, on August 17, 2006, after she had complained about Cifelli's loud music.http://www.newsnet5.com/news/13206157/detail.htmlhttp://www.newsnet5.com/news/9698463/detail.html Jackson was attempting to assist Hayashi after she was shot, when he was slain. She is survived by a son, Dean Keesey of Oakland; a daughter, Lisa Takata; a brother, Seigo; and four sisters: Connie, Amy, Nancy and Joanne.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer and artist who taught art at Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University is a public university located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. It was established in 1964 when the state of Ohio assumed control of Fenn College, and it absorbed the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law in 1969...
, in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, for 24 years. She won a Cleveland Arts Prize, three Ohio Arts Council awards, a Fulbright fellowship; awards from National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
, Arts Midwest, and Florida Arts Council; as well as a 1997 Civil Liberties Educational Fund research grant.
Dr. Hayashi created a large body of fine art "panoramic photo-collage" or photo collage involving shots taken on a tripod in successive rings, and later constructed as a more-or-less than 360 degree view. Of the over 200 pieces she created in this format, primary subject matter generally fit into the following series: WWII Internment Camps of Americans of Japanese Ancestry, Post-Industrial Landscape, EPA Superfund Sites, Abandoned Prisons, War and Military Sites, Commissions, City Works, and Sacred Architectures. Dr. Hayashi created the website: www.masumihayashi.com ("American Concentration Camps") in 1997 before the Japanese American Internment
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
during World War II was widely discussed in the media. In 2004, Dr. Hayashi launched the www.masumimuseum.com, which is now an online archive of her work.
Hayashi's works are represented in numerous public and private collections , including the International Center of Photography
International Center of Photography
The International Center of Photography is a photography museum, school, and research center in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...
(NYC), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
The is an art museum focused on photography. The museum was founded by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and is located in Meguro-ku, a short walk from Ebisu station in southwest Tokyo...
, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, the Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on Cleveland's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000...
, the George Eastman House
George Eastman House
The George Eastman House is the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in Rochester, New York, USA. World-renowned for its photograph and motion picture archives, the museum is also a leader in film preservation and...
in Rochester, NY, the Columbus Museum of Art
Columbus Museum of Art
The Columbus Museum of Art is an art museum located in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Formed in 1878 as the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, it was the first art museum to register its charter with the state of Ohio.-Building:...
, the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
in London, and the Ludwig Forum for International Art in Koblenz, Germany.
Biography
Masumi Hayashi was born in 1945 in the Gila River War Relocation Camp in Rivers, Arizona, one of the United States government's War Relocation Authority camps, where Japanese-Americans were placed in internment during the World War II Era. The Gila River camp was on Indian reservationIndian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
land.
Hayashi grew up in Watts
Watts, Los Angeles, California
Watts is a mostly residential neighborhood in South Los Angeles, California.-History:The area now known as Watts is located on the Rancho La Tajauta Mexican land grant...
(an area in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
) and graduated from Jordan High School. As an adolescent, she worked at her parents’ store, Village Market, on Compton Avenue. She attended UCLA and later went on to attend Florida State University
Florida State University
The Florida State University is a space-grant and sea-grant public university located in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a comprehensive doctoral research university with medical programs and significant research activity as determined by the Carnegie Foundation...
in Tallahassee, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in 1975 and Master of Fine Arts degree in 1977.
Hayashi joined the faculty of Cleveland State University as Assistant Professor of Photography in 1982, and became a full professor in 1996. During her tenure at CSU, she received numerous awards, including an Arts Midwest, NEA fellowship in 1987, a Civil Liberties Educational Fund research fellowship in 1997, a Fulbright Grant in 2003, and Individual Artist Fellowships from the Ohio Arts Council on three different occasions. She was awarded the Cleveland Arts Prize for Visual Arts in 1994.
Masumi Hayashi is perhaps best known for creating striking panoramic photocollages, using smaller color photographs (typically 4-by-6-inch prints) like tiles in a mosaic. Many of these large panoramic pieces involve more than one hundred smaller photographic prints; the rotational scope of the assembled collage can be 360 degrees or even 540 degrees. Much of her work explores socially uncomfortable spaces, including prisons, relocation camps, and Superfund cleanup sites.
Later in her career, her artwork reflected a deep interest in sacred sites, and she travelled several times to India and other places in Asia, to photograph spiritually significant spaces.
Masumi Hayashi (at age 60) and her neighbor, the 51-year-old artist and sculptor John Jackson (who also worked as a maintenance man at the apartment complex), were shot to death by a 29-year-old neighbor named Jacob Cifelli in their apartment building on Detroit Avenue on the West Side of Cleveland, Ohio, on August 17, 2006, after she had complained about Cifelli's loud music.http://www.newsnet5.com/news/13206157/detail.htmlhttp://www.newsnet5.com/news/9698463/detail.html Jackson was attempting to assist Hayashi after she was shot, when he was slain. She is survived by a son, Dean Keesey of Oakland; a daughter, Lisa Takata; a brother, Seigo; and four sisters: Connie, Amy, Nancy and Joanne.