When We Return Home brings together contemporary landscape photographs with images from the artist's family archive. The project was recognized with the biennial International Prix Virginia Prize and the Aperture Foundation Creator Prize in 2024. In 2026, it was shortlisted for the Rencontres d'Arles LUMA Rencontres Dummy Book Award and the Athens Photo Festival Dummy Award; the project was also selected for exhibition at the Benaki Museum as part of the Athens Photo Festival Book Program (June–July 2026). Moving between past and present, the work considers how histories of displacement are carried within families and persist across generations. Through a restrained sequencing of images, meaning emerges gradually, tracing how memory, absence, and inheritance shape ideas of belonging and home.
image: Artist’s Grandfather’s ID photo 1941
A complete book edit is available upon request.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's uncle (born in Poston incarceration camp) and aunt in their backyard, c. 1948; a 1994 photograph of the back of their home; and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating a National Archives inventory of Jack Sakai's personal property from Poston incarceration camp and a contemporary landscape photograph of the sky reflected in water.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's grandmother in the Great Lakes after the war and a contemporary photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of Jack Sakai during a pilgrimage to the West Coast in the 1970s and a National Archives photograph of the Poston incarceration camp site.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of Jack Sakai with his children, c. 1949, and his May 11, 1943 letter written from Poston incarceration camp.
Composite image combining a National Archives image of the military alert following the bombing of Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941) with artist’s contemporary photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's grandparents, aunt, and uncle in Lakewood, Ohio (1945), and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image of artists Grandmother and father as a baby, combined with artist’s contemporary photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's grandparents, great-aunts, and great-uncles at a family picnic and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the Sakai family on their fruit farm in prewar California, late 1930s, and a contemporary landscape photograph.
National Archives intake form for Jack Kuneo Sakai from Poston incarceration camp.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's aunt and uncle, Easter, postwar Ohio, and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival motel room photograph taken during the artist's grandmother's pilgrimage to revisit the family's lost farm and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's great-uncles playing baseball in Poston incarceration camp, Arizona (1942), and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of Auntie Mitsi and Chiye in Poston incarceration camp, Arizona (1944), and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the Sakai family in Poston incarceration camp, Arizona (1942), and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's father and uncle as children and a National Archives property loss claim filed by Jack Sakai in 1951, ultimately denied.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's uncle and aunt, c. 1950, and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating the earliest known archival photograph of Jack Sakai, Watsonville, California (1914), and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's grandmother (fourth from left), Spring Dance Recital, Buddhist Temple, Seattle, c. 1935, and a contemporary landscape photograph.
Composite image incorporating an archival photograph of the artist's grandfather, uncle, aunt, and the artist at a koi pond and a contemporary landscape photograph.
The Ireichō (Sacred Book of Names), the comprehensive record documenting the 125,284 persons of Japanese ancestry incarcerated in U.S. detention camps during WWII. Blue stamp mark made by Jennifer Sakai next to her grandmother’s name,
Mariko Mary Sakai, to honor her and all internees during an event at the Smithsonian.
Fabric of kimono worn by Grandmother in dance class photo c.1930’s, preserved in cedar box and handed down to her granddaughter.
When We Return Home - 57th edition of the festival, the Rencontres d’Arles and the LUMA Foundation shortlisted book.
Shortlisted Artist: Jennifer Sakai | When We Return Home
Exhibited at the Benaki Museum in Athens, Greece, June–July 2026.
The Biennial International Prize for Women in Photography.
Paris, France 2024
Aperture Creator Prize 2024
Aperture Foundation, New York