Painted Prayers: The Japanese Folk Art Tradition of Ema

Thursday, September 24
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Meher McArthur, Asian art historian and curator
Virtual Event

Meher McArthur will preview her upcoming exhibition Painted Prayers: The Japanese Folk Art Tradition of Ema, on view at Mingei International Museum (October 17 2026 through April 4, 2027). Ema are painted (now mostly printed) votive plaques that have been purchased at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples for centuries and hung outside as prayers to the gods. They depict deities, symbols, animals, plants and objects that signify wishes as general as health, good fortune, and love to prayers for a cure for warts, blindness, and STDs. Some of the wittiest examples represent prayers for increased breastmilk, recovery from addiction, and an end to toxic relationships. Meher will share her exploration of this folk painting tradition and its place in Japan today.

Speaker Bio: Meher McArthur is an Asian art historian specializing in Japanese art and has worked at Pacific Asia Museum, the Storrier Stearns Japanese Garden, Scripps College, Claremont and JAPAN HOUSE LA. She curates local and traveling exhibitions, such as Washi Transformed: New Expressions in Japanese Paper (2021-2024), Sound of Water at Descanso Gardens and KIMONO: Garment, Canvas, and Artistic Muse, now in Louisiana. Her publications include Gods and Goblins: Folk Paintings from Otsu (PAM, 1999), Reading Buddhist Art (Thames & Hudson, 2002) and The Arts of Asia (Thames & Hudson, 2005), An ABC of What Art Can Be (Getty Museum, 2010), New Expressions in Origami Art (Tuttle, 2017), and her memoir A Japanese Art Journey (Tuttle, 2025).

Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.

Save your spot. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place.

Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.

Featured: Unidentified Maker, Ema of a White Horse, a Prayer for Good Fortune in the Year of the Horse (detail), Bunka 7 (1810), Japan. Pigment on wood. Mingei International Museum, Museum Purchase, 2015-118-108.