Referencing an emergence from darkness, Mai Ka Pouli features re-presentations of the past through contemporary artworks by 11 artists whose ancestors bind them to the vast Pacific, Moananuiākea. Artists explore identity and representation of Kanaka Ōiwi and people of the Pacific through artworks which activate stories of people, places and cultures which have been historically and contemporaneously misrepresented and erased. By re-centering voices and perspectives, artists reclaim the narrative to form new histories and futures.
Featured artists include: l frank, Kenyatta Kelechi, Yuki Kihara, Ian Kualiʻi, Marques Hanalei Marzan, Meleanna Aluli Meyer, Brandon Ng, Saumolia Puapuaga, Nainoa Rosehill, Mikiʻala Souza, Michel Tuffery.
Click here to experience the digital catalog.
This exhibition is made possible through a partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and funding from the Laila Twigg-Smith Art Fund and Robert C. & Helen F. Nichols Fund of the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation, the Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities through support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Biennium Grant, County of Hawaiʻi Contingency Funds from Dr. Holeka Goro Inaba and Rebecca Villegas.