Emma Nishimura is a multidisciplinary artist working in printmaking, photography, sculpture, and installation. Her work explores the complexities of memory, trauma, and identity through the lens of Japanese Canadian history. Centering on the experiences of her paternal grandparents, and thousands of other Japanese Canadians who were forcibly incarcerated in Canada during the Second World War, her work examines this history and its lasting impact across generations.
Emma has exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum (Toronto), the Royal Academy of Arts (London), the California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco), and the Taimiao Art Gallery (Beijing). Her work is held in public and private collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Japanese Canadian National Museum, and the Library of Congress. She has received awards and grants from the Ontario Arts Council, Open Studio, the International Print Center New York, Art in Print, and The Print Center. In 2018, she was awarded the Queen Sonja Print Award. Emma holds an MFA from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a BA from the University of Guelph. She is an Assistant Professor at OCAD University.
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Statement from the jury:
"The jury has been deeply impressed by the consistent quality in Emma Nishimura’s body of work. The artist explores notions of memory and how history is interpreted and re-negotiated, through a varied use of traditional and contemporary printmaking techniques. From miniscule hand-etched texts used in the topographic contours on maps, to photogravure on paper successfully molded three-dimensionally, the artist incorporates traces of history and individual stories exploring spatial and temporal realities. Nishimura questions the parameters of history through collected stories, inherited narratives, geography and family photos. Her body of work is exquisite and consistent – an exceptional thoroughness is at the core of her art practice."
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