Masumi Hayashi (photographer)
Masumi Hayashi (September 3, 1945 – August 17, 2006) was an American photographer and artist, known for wide-format panoramic photo-collages made from hundreds of small prints arranged in circular views.
She was born in a World War II Japanese-American internment camp in Rivers, Arizona, and grew up in Watts, Los Angeles. Hayashi studied at UCLA and earned a BA in 1975 and an MFA in 1977 from Florida State University. She joined Cleveland State University in 1982 as a photography professor and became a full professor in 1996, teaching there for 24 years. Her work often explored topics such as Japanese internment, war, pollution, prisons, and sacred spaces, and she also created compositions focusing on post-industrial landscapes and war sites. In 2004, she started MasumiMuseum.com, an online archive of her art.
Her works are held in major museums worldwide, including the International Center of Photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and others. Hayashi received numerous honors, such as the Cleveland Arts Prize (1994), National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, Ohio Arts Council fellowships (three), a Civil Liberties Educational Fund grant (1997), a Fulbright grant (2003), and a mid-career recognition from Arts Midwest.
On August 17, 2006, Hayashi and her neighbor were shot by a neighbor in Cleveland; the shooter was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. She is survived by a son, a daughter, a brother, and four sisters.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 03:51 (CET).