[4][5] After internment, Hibi moved to New York City, where she obtained U.S. citizenship and pursued further education by enrolling in courses at the Museum of Modern Art.

Subsequently, Hibi returned to San Francisco, where she continued to exhibit her work in galleries, garnered recognition, and explored various alternative art styles before her eventual passing in 1991.

[8][9] While at the school, she met fellow student and painter George Matsusaburo Hibi, who was more than twenty years her senior, and the two were married in 1930.

Throughout the 1930s and early 40s, Hibi exhibited with fellow artists including Elmer Bischoff, David Park, Karl Kasten, and Earle Loran, all of whom are renowned and were active in California.

[11] With forced removal imminent, Hibi and her husband donated their paintings to different venues in the Hayward community, to express their thanks because they couldn't bring the work with them to internment camps for the duration of World War II.

Their artistic strides effectively defied government restrictions being placed around photography and camp documentation and played a crucial role in capturing these experiences.

She later returned to school, studying under Victor D'Amico at the Museum of Modern Art which influenced her painting style as it became increasingly abstract.

[18] She remained entrenched in West Coast art culture until Hibi died on October 25, 1991, in San Francisco, at the age of 84.

[19] Hibi's work from Tanforan offers an uncommon perspective for an era of art dominated by men, as many of her paintings explore themes of femininity and motherhood.

In 1943, she received a prize for a still life of flowers[28][29][30] that was exhibited in a show of work made by incarcerated artists that was held at the Friends Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A neighbor from Hayward, who stored several of the family's paintings during internment, died in 1954, depleting what is known to be left of Hibi's early works.

[7] In addition, Ibuki Lee recounted finding selections from Hibi's internment artwork in online marketplaces and garage sales.