During the early years of Tom Haar’s residence in New York, from 1968 to 1983, he learned of a large group of Japanese artists. intrigued by their exciting lifestyle in New York, and having grown up in Japan himself, he decided to capture their creative lives in a photo essay, "Japanese Artists in New York - 1971."

“New York was very stimulating in the early 1970s—in areas gritty and seedy—especially in lower Manhattan, where many of the artists lived. soho and the artists’ housing, westbeth, were still in their infancies.”

It has been forty-six years since Haar worked on this project. today, many of these artists are still creatively active in new york. one of the photographed artists, Yayoi Kusama, now a well-known artist with international celebrity status, will be highlighted at this year’s Honolulu Biennial, March 8th to May 8th.

Tom Haar received ACC Fellowships in 1983 and 1985 for travel to Korea and Japan for photograph is documentation.