The Presence of Japanese Artists at the Whitney Biennial

The Whitney Biennial is an exhibition that showcases the forefront of American art. Opened to the public on March 8, this year’s edition features 56 artists, duos, and collectives, among which four are Japanese artists: Kelly Akashi, Akira Ikezoe, Mao Ishikawa, and Aki Onda. This means that approximately 7% of the participating artists are of Japanese descent.

According to a statement from the Whitney Museum, the exhibition foregrounds mood and texture, and it “does not offer a definitive answer to life today, but instead presents environments that evoke tension, tenderness, humor, and unease, while proposing imaginative, unpredictable, and sometimes disorderly forms of coexistence.”
This festival is fundamentally an exhibition of American art, where curators observe and present what American artists are thinking, feeling, and expressing through their works. Naturally, it also provides an opportunity to reflect on the nature of the United States and American culture.

The Theme of Relationships and Historical Context

One of the central themes of this year’s Biennial is “in relation.” It explores how connections are formed, constrained, or enabled within the various systems we inhabit—ranging from familial and social ties to geopolitical dynamics and relationships between humans and other species.

From this perspective, the presence of Japan can be seen as already deeply embedded within the network of American art. A pioneering figure in this context was the painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi. In 1948, Kuniyoshi achieved the remarkable feat of holding the Whitney Museum’s first retrospective for a living artist, and in 1952, he represented the United States at the Venice Biennale, becoming one of the most successful Japanese artists in America. However, due to the restrictions of the anti-Japanese immigration laws at the time, he never obtained American citizenship. [1][2]

During the 1930s through the mid-1940s, and again between 1974 and 1990 when Tom Armstrong III served as director, the Whitney Museum placed significant emphasis on American citizenship as a criterion for exhibitions and collection inclusion. Nonetheless, from its founding, the museum also maintained a flexible approach that prioritized active artistic practice in America over formal nationality. [3]

Diverse Expressions of Contemporary Japanese Artists

The works of the four participating Japanese artists each explore “relationships” in distinct ways.

Mao Ishikawa: Witnessing History, Building Connections

Mao Ishikawa, born in 1953 in Okinawa under U.S. military administration, is a photographer whose work reflects the complex social and political realities of postwar Okinawa. Growing up with the U.S. military presence as a familiar backdrop, she developed a keen awareness of societal and geopolitical conditions. From a young age, she photographed women working in bars near military bases and African American soldiers, creating a body of work that has been recognized as an important record of U.S.-Japan relations and the complexities of Okinawan society.

On Japanese television, she has stated, “I really dislike the Yamato people [mainland Japanese],” clearly expressing her anger at Okinawa’s historical sacrifices and ongoing base issues. [4] Yet, her work is not defined solely by protest or outrage; it also embodies deep empathy and respect for her subjects. Ishikawa has said of those she photographs, “I photograph because I love them” and “I will go see them again,” conveying a sense of continuous connection and relational depth. [5]

Moreover, her photography is praised not only for capturing Okinawa’s social realities but also for emphasizing the perspectives of women and other marginalized individuals, layering regional history with personal narrative. Her signature series, Red Flower, documents the complex interrelations of base culture and postwar Okinawan society in a documentary-like manner, providing both historical insight and human intimacy.

Kelly Akashi: Memory, Material, and Transformation

Kelly Akashi, born in 1983 in Los Angeles, is a contemporary artist renowned for her sculptural works that utilize diverse materials such as glass, bronze, and stone. Her work is grounded in themes of impermanence (mono no aware) and the transformation of materials, reflecting a lyrical sensibility that resonates with Japanese aesthetics and techniques. [6]

At the 2026 Whitney Biennial, Akashi presented a large-scale installation, Monument (Altadena), inspired by her experience of losing her home and studio in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, California, in January 2025. In the work, the only remaining chimney was meticulously reconstructed with glass blocks in collaboration with craftsmen, exploring the relationship between disaster and regeneration, loss and memory.

She also created Inheritance (Distressed), using her grandmother’s lace doilies as material, expressing personal history and the memory embedded in the objects through steel and glass. This work has been recognized as a meditation on how an artist engages with family history. Akashi’s art demonstrates how materials themselves record time and memory, situating her work at the intersection of personal and collective histories—a position for which she has received high acclaim in the contemporary art world. [7]

Akira Ikezoe: Allegories of Nature, Technology, and Energy

Akira Ikezoe, born in 1979 in Kochi Prefecture, Japan, is based in New York, with a studio at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts in Manhattan. Working across a variety of media—including drawing, painting, video, and performance—Ikezoe creates works that weave together human figures, animals, and mythological imagery. His art often blurs the boundaries between humans and nature, civilization and non-civilization, and his compositions are frequently arranged in allegorical or mythic contexts. [8]

At the exhibition, Ikezoe presents Frog Stories Around Nuclear Power Plant (2025), Mole Stories Around Methane Gas (2025) and Robot Stories Around Solar Panels (2025).  He uses motifs of frogs, moles and robots to allegorically explore the relationships between nuclear fuel, methane gas and solar energy cycles, and the broader circulation of energy and environmental resources. Through these playful yet thoughtful narratives, Ikezoe invites viewers to consider the interconnected systems of humans, technology, and the natural world.

Aki Onda: Expanding Sound and Political Context

Aki Onda, a self-taught artist and curator born in 1967 in Nara Prefecture, Japan, and based in Ibaraki since 2020 after spending 20 years in New York, presents work based on Ugnayan (1974) by Filipino composer José Maceda. Originally titled Ugnayan: Music for 20 Radio Stations, the piece consists of 51 minutes of music recorded across 20 separate tracks for 20 radio stations. On January 1, 1974, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., the composition was simultaneously broadcast across 37 radio stations in the Metropolitan Manila area. Audiences gathered in parks and urban spaces with transistor radios, tuning into the stations to experience the work in its entirety.

This large-scale sound project was realized as part of the cultural policy under Ferdinand Marcos’ authoritarian regime in the Philippines, with support from the Cultural Center of the Philippines, chaired at the time by First Lady Imelda Marcos. The project was said to aim at demonstrating “the creative interconnection of Philippine culture and industry.”

Today, Ugnayan is reevaluated as a groundbreaking example in the history of experimental music and participatory art. Its simultaneous broadcast structure functioned as a massive sound sculpture, allowing the music to resonate throughout the urban environment. [9][10]

Japanese Artists as Diaspora

Viewed in this light, the participation of Japanese artists in the 2026 Whitney Biennial is no coincidence. Rooted in American society and engaging with multilayered themes such as history, politics, natural disasters, and energy, these artists are not mere cultural visitors. They are deeply embedded in the local context, actively creating as members of the diaspora.

The presence of multiple Japanese names on the exhibition roster underscores how the cultural exchange and influence between Japan and the United States have become structurally intertwined. It demonstrates that Japanese artists have become indispensable contributors at the forefront of contemporary American art.