Jennifer Sakai is a fine art photographer, [1] [2] [3] and university professor at American University. [4] Jennifer is the winner of the Prix Virginia, the Biennial International Prize for Photography for women. [5] In 2024, she received the Prix Virginia for her series When We Return Home.She was awarded this honor in France in 2024. [6] She is also 2024 winner of an Aperture Foundation Creator Lab Prize for her photography practice. [7]
She teaches in the MFA program at American University. [8]
Sakai has published as an artist [9] and curator. Her work was featured in M Magazine for Le Monde issue No.698 [10] with interview by: Claire Guillot for her project "When We Return Home" which details her Japanese family and their time in Poston War Relocation Center [11] during World War two and their post war life combined with images from her photographic practice. [12] She is also an independent museum curator, she has curated museum shows including The Gifts of Tony Podesta (2019), [13] Border Wall [14] at Katzen Arts Center (2020), [15] and Vertiginous Matter (2022), [16] which was listed in the top eight museum shows for 2022 by Washington CityPaper. [17] Her work has been featured in W (magazine). [18] and Vogue (magazine) [19]
Jennifer is the Prix Virginia Laureate Winner, an international prize for women in photography for 2024. [20] The Prix Virginia is a biennial prize [21] awarded every two years in France. Sakai is a multiple recipient of a DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Grant for her photographic practice. [22]
She is a recipient of a 2024 creator lab prize from Aperture Foundation in New York. [23]
She is a winner in the 2023 LensCulture Art Photography Awards. [24] She exhibited at Photo London [25] at Somerset House in May 2023. She was a selected artist for the Charcoal Chico review [26] in 2020 and 2021.
She is a multiple fellowship recipient from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Receiving awards in Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship 2024, [22] Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship 2022, [27] , Arts and Humanities Artist Fellowship 2021. [28]
Jennifer Sakai’s work has been exhibited at: Addison/Ripley Fine Art (2025) (2023) Artsy [29] (website) (2023) Glen Echo Park (Maryland) (2022) Corcoran Gallery of Art (2017).