Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 39, Number 10, 1 ʻOkakopa 2022 — HT22 at HiSAM An Art Exhibit Borne of Joyous Affirmation and Defiance [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HT22 at HiSAM An Art Exhibit Borne of Joyous Affirmation and Defiance

By Puanani Fernandez-Akamine From February 18 to May 8, Honolulu quietly hosted a extraordinary art exhibit at seven venues across the city. The multi-venue event, Hawai'i Triennial 2022 (HT22), was organized by Honolulu-based nonprofit Hawai'i Contemporary and featured the work of 43 artists and art collectives ffom Hawai'i, the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, bringing together more than 60 participants. HT22 included the work of both international and Hawai'i-based artists. Their artwork included a variety of mediums and interwove themes of history, plaee and identity within the context of Hawai'i's unique location as the huina - intersection - of east, west and Oeeania. For those who missed the event, there is still an opportunity to experience HT22 on a smaller scale. Hosting venue and HT22 presenting sponsor Hawai'i State Art Museum (HiSAM) will keep its exhibit open (and free to the puhlie) through December 3. The HiSAM HT22 exhibit may be of particular interest to Native Hawaiian audiences. It includes the combined works of native/non-native collaborators - poets, writers, painters, filmmakers, photographers, publishers, printmakers, educators, weavers, organizers, activists and musicians. HT22 Associate Curator Drew Kahu'āina Broderick describes these as collaborations against the U.S. empire in Hawai'i - collaborations of artists who have said "No to set-tler-colonial desires in Hawai'i, no to legacies of U.S. imperialism and ongoing occupation in the Paeihe." HT22 collaborator, Maile Meyer of 'Ai Pōhaku Press, notes that in Hawai'i collaboration models are critical. "Complex and creative thinking, along with meaningful relationships, offer unanticipated solutions and alliances." The featured collaborations include: Kapulani Landgraf and Mark Hamasaki (Piliāmo'o - photography); Puhipau and Joan Lander (Nā Maka o ka 'Āina - video); Wayne Kaumualii Westlake, Richard Hamasaki and Paul L. Oliveira (Seaweeds and Constructions - poetry); Maile Meyer and Barbara Pope ('Ai Pōhaku Press - publications); Haunani-Kay Trask and Ed Greevy (photography); as well as contributions by Keanahala Weaving Hui; The Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana with photographer Franco Salmoiraghi; musician Eddie Kamae; poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio; and artist Lawrence Seward. Broderick acknowledges that some of the contributors might be unknown to many triennial goers but notes that, "the work of these friends and their extended networks has helped shape one of the most important recent stories of artistic resistance, collaboration, and difference in Hawai'i. Visiting the exhibition at HiSAM and communing with the artwork is a way for us to honor Native/non-Native artist collaborations in support of more just futures for us Hawaiians and for the lands, seas, and skies of Hawai'i Nei."

Adds Meyer, "1his free and open to the puhlie exhibition features longstanding efforts to share our stories from our perspectives, through creative and powerful voices, across time. Hawaiian values and resistance are present, supported by settlers who have always been Hawaiian allies. The Native Hawaiian community ean feel comfort, have faith and feel inspired that pono will prevail. We have and will hold steadfast, a mau a mau." HT22 is the third such event organized by Hawai'i Contemporary. The first two were biennials in 2017 and 2019. HT22 is the result of more than two years of planning. The HT22 euratorial team was assembled in November 2019 and had their first face-to-face meeting in Honolulu in February 2020 just prior to the global COVID-19 shutdown. The team eollahorated remotely for the next two years. As part of their work, HT22 was preceded in 2021 by an international Art Summit of artists, curators and creative thinkers to help cultivate a robust arts ecosystem in Hawai'i. Dr. Melissa Chu, a renowned international curator and current director of Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., served as curatorial director for HT22. Associate curators were Dr. Miwako Tezuka, the associate director of Reversible Destiny Foundation, a progressive artist foundation in New York, and Broderick who is the director at the Koa Gallery at Kapi'olani Community College and a kupa of Kailua, O'ahu. Assistant curator for HT22 was Josh Kulamanu Tengan, an independent contemporary art eurator from Pauoa, O'ahu. Broderick hopes that everyone interested will eome to see the exhibit at HiSAM before it closes on December 3. "Hawai'i Triennial is a meaningful international platform for us to reflect on and share our own loeal and native stories — past, present, and future — as part of an ever-growing global eontemporary art world." ■ The Hawai'i State Art Museum is located at 250 S. Hotel Street in Honolulu, just 'ewa of'Iolani Palaee and the Hawai'i State Capitol building in downtown Honolulu. Admission to the museum is alwaysfree.

(L-R) H122 Assistant Curator Josh Kulamanu Tengan and Associate Curator Drew Kahu'āina Broderick. The art exhibit at HiSAM is free to the puhlie and will be open through Dec. 3. - Phoio: Christopher Rohrer