Psylloneura williamsi, from the series Insect Immigrants, after Zimmerman (1948)

The term “insect immigrants” refers to the arrival of American missionaries to Hawaii in the early 1800s, bringing with them new insect species. The title of this series, Insect Immigrants, After Zimmerman (1948) , references the 1948 volume compiled by entomologist Elwood C. Zimmerman who cataloged more than 5,000 insects native to Hawaii.

The front side of these embroidered doilies is turned to face the wall, leaving the back, with loops and knots, facing the viewer. This display reveals the work’s elaborate and messy construction, rather than the deceptively neat result. Yamamoto thinks of these insects, and her renderings of them, as metaphors for the complexity of Hawaiian multi-ethnic identity.