Miriam Chusid (she/her/hers)

I specialize in Japanese art and visual culture with an interest in East Asian Buddhist art; the role of women in the production and reception of religious images; visual narratives and narrative theory; the place of conservation in art historical inquiry; and contemporary Japanese art.

My current book project entitled Envisioning the Afterlife: Image, Text, and Ritual Practice in Premodern Japan examines the emergence in the thirteenth century of pictures of Buddhist hell used in rituals to benefit the dead. In particular, it weaves together three lines of inquiry: an investigation of the iconographies and themes that patrons and painters incorporated into images of hell; strategies of the use and display of these images; and the practice of the maintenance and repair of the paintings. By uncovering the visual, ritual, and material matrix from which depictions of the infernal realms were given form and meaning, I demonstrate how producers of these objects addressed a range of postmortem concerns and expectations within increasingly diverse Buddhist communities.

Before coming to the University of Washington in 2021, I held postdoctoral fellowships at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Burke Center for Japanese Art at Columbia University. I was also a Visiting Assistant Professor at Haverford College.