ALSO HERE

Representing who's Brown, Queer, and ALSO HERE in the Occupied Kingdom of Hawai‘i.

The first Offical Honolulu Pride Exhibit Centering QTIPOC Art

Imagine the walls covered in the faces of brown queers who are too young to attend the party. People who can’t attend queer activities because they’re forced to remain in the closet. People who are queer and proud, but can’t afford to miss work to come to a parade. Queer brown punks. Queer emcees. Queer artists. Queer people whose idea of a good time doesn’t include partying or getting drunk, but reading books or gardening. People who live in the country who have their own queer communities outside of the urban center of Honolulu.

Lgbtqi+ is not a monolithic group; it encompasses people of different gender identities, ethnic backgrounds, belief systems, life experiences, and presentations. We are also often made to feel left out of both consideration and conversation within media, institutional programming, healthcare, ownership of public space, etc. But one thing unifies us: we are multifaceted, and we are beautiful. 

ALSO HERE is a show of portraits, artworks, and stories of, by, and featuring LGBTQI+ People of Color, inserting ourselves into the narrative with pride, for Honolulu Pride 2018.

Sponsored by Hawai‘i LGBT Legacy Foundation.

Created, curated, and produced by Lala Openi.



Exhibiting Artists

 

 

Anju Kasturiraj

 

Anju Kasturiraj, daughter of Fatima, is a queer South Indian Tamil poet, visual storyteller, performance artist, and sister. Her namesake being a praise dance for the cosmic number 5 (ஐந்து) and the city of Los Angeles. Her work is informed by her connection to ancestral communication, altar building, mothers, bodies, and Divine Femme. This past year, Anju released her second poetry book, Songs for The Sun, and served as creative director for the San Francisco Asian Art Museum’s spring arts event, These Bodies Sing of Home, a diasporic exploration of the concept “Home.”

 

 

Caesar Caberto Jr

 

3rd Generation born and raised in Hawai’i and I’m 100% Filipino Ilocano and Visayan, I love to  create new designs and graphics, singing in and out of the shower is a must!” Caesar Caberto Jr  was born and raised in O’ahu, Hawai’i. He studied Illustration at Parsons The New School of  Design (2017) in New York City. Shortly after he moved back to Hawai’i to freelance and  experiment with new projects. Caberto’s work focuses on Illustration and often times visually  telling stories. He has a fondness for experimenting with color and a knack for fantastical films.  His interests has helped spark many different projects such as Comic Books, Zines, Printmaking,  Sculpture and Stop Motion Animation.

 

 

Cheyne Gallarde

 

Originally from the plantation town of Waipahu, Cheyne now resides in Honolulu. As a child, his drawing inspirations were Saturday morning cartoons like He-Man & Thundercats. As a self-taught artist, his life changed after he picked up a copy of Stan Lee’s “How to Draw the  Marvel Way”. To this day, his main inspiration continues to be the king of comics Jack Kirby.  Cheyne’s work is quintessential pop art, combining his love of fierce females and art from the  Golden Age of Comics. Currently Cheyne is working with LOGOTV on paintings of LGBTQ icons  for pride month. Prior to that, he was hired by Condé Nast to create the key visual and branding  for their QUEEROES Awards show and with VH1 to create comic covers celebrating John Waters.  When not drawing or painting, Cheyne loves to play video games, binge-watch reality TV & play with his little pupper Rocket.

 

 

Chris Emory

 

Chris Emory hails from the villages of Ili’ili, Leone, Sogi, and Malaeloa of Tutuila; from Vailele and  Leufisa of Upolu. She is a Fa’afafine (Samoan third gender) artist, filmmaker, photographer, poet,  cultural practitioner, and prospective college student of Samoan, Uvea-Futunan, Niitsitapi, and  European descent. Within her works, she seeks to project better realities for the Pasifika, Queer  peoples, and does so through a variety of artistic mediums. Chris attributes her achievements to  her dreaming, her amazing circle of loved ones, and her ancestors.

 

 

Destiny Sharion

 

Destiny Sharion is a spoken word artist born and raised in Anchorage Alaska. She has lived on the island for the past five or six years and now calls Oʻahu home. Destiny was part of the slam team that represented Hawaiʻi at nationals in both 2017, 2018 and was the Hawaiʻi representative for the 2018 Women of the World Poetry Slam. Her poetry is mostly centered around healing, self discovery, and revolution.

 

 

Emily Kandagawa

 

Emily Kandagawa is a Hawaiian national and queer femme of African-Native American descent.

Her paternal grandparents are West African, Moorish, and Mississippian/Southeastern Woodland peoples. Their waters are the Mississippi River Delta, their mountains are the Appalachians, and their desert is the Sahara. Her maternal grandparents are from Napoli, Italy; Delarna and Stockholm, Sweden; Donegal and County Cork, Ireland; and Hilo and Kailua-Kona, Hawaiʻi Island, Ke Aupuni o Hawaiʻi. Their mountains are the Appennini, the Scandes, the Derryveagh, Koʻolaupoko, and Mauna a Wākea.

Emily is a popular educator, researcher, and student of ancestral birthwork and medicinal practices. They hold degrees in Political Science from Indian River State College; Anthropology from Hawaiʻi Pacific University; and Land-Based Indigenous Education from the University of Saskatchewan.

Their work focuses on raising public consciousness around the political and legal history of the Hawaiian Kingdom under prolonged U.S. occupation. They are dedicated to facilitating the cross-pollination of social, environmental, and political liberation movements through creative projects and cultural practice; and supporting historically marginalized communities in the reclamation of their lands and their stories toward restorative justice and the healing of past, present, and future generations.

 

 

Leilani Portillo

 

Leilani Portillo is a queer multiracial Kanaka Maoli poet and potter that was born and raised on the outskirts of San Francisco. She came to Hawaiʻi in 2012 and has since been exploring her kuleana as a kanaka from the diaspora returning to her ancestral homeland. She resides in Mānana, HI and is working on her MA in Poetry at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Most of her work focuses on multiracial (Hawaiian) identity in the diaspora and reconnecting to Hawaiian culture and values.

 

 

Jesand Amodo

 

My name is Jesand Amodo (aka JehzanExclusive) and I’m a pinay rapper & entrepreneur born,  raised, and residing in Honolulu, HI. I use music to express myself and to talk about what’s going  on in my life and community. My goal is to use music to uplift those around me, and instill my  message of self-empowerment, ambition, and work ethic especially for POC’s and other young  pinays. I’m 27 years old, third generation Filipino-American (Ilocano), US Army Veteran, and the  2nd person in my immediate family to obtain a college degree (following my mother, Jessica  Balanay). Aside from my music, I’m a professional educator; I teach business courses at  Remington College as well as Hip Hop/Rap at Central Middle School. Lastly, I own and operate  my freelance online marketing consulting company – Jesand Amodo Consulting. I am currently  fundraising and planning to go on my first tour in Davao, Philippines in February 2019.”

For more info, visit  www.jehzanexclusive.com

 

 

Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng

 

Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng is a queer Kanaka Maoli womxn of mixed descent, born and raised on  the island of Oʻahu. As a multi-dimensional creative, she is a multi-time international slam poetry  champion, a special effects make-up artist, body painter, theater performer, photographer and  fabricator. Her work revolves around accessibility, representation, storytelling and healing. Her  most recent body of collaborative interdisiplinary work, “She Who Dies To Live” was featured in  the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center’s culture lab exhibit ‘Ae Kai and will be touring in  2019. To experience her transformation body art, you can find her on the “Art World Escape” app.

To learn more about the artist:  www.JocelynNgPoetry.com and on Instagram: @jocelynkng

 

 

Lala Openi

 

Lala Openi is a mixed-media artist & designer learning self actualization through colloquial  metamorphism, presently rooting in Honolulu Chinatown. 5th-generation San Francisco Bay-bred  “American-Born Chinese,” Openi utilizes digital, tactile and auditory art forms to activate  narratives of identity and engage in introspective conversation on the ever-shifting cultures of  both self and space. Recurring themes in their work include truth-seeking and self-investigation as a healing life practice, and narratives of empowerment amongst people of color through visual  & auditory storytelling.

www.openi.in
www.instagram.com/openiiiiiiiii

 

 

Pākē Salmon

 

Chaunnel “Pākē” Salmon is a Hawaiian artist, activist, actor, commercial filmmaker, photographer and water woman born and raised in Hawai’i. She comes from the most western part of the island of Oʻahu called Makaha Beach. Her inspiring and creative multimedia work consists of imagery on land, air, and in the sea and surf. She comes from a small Hawaiian community of legendary surfers and watermen and water women. She was raised as a “keiki o ke kai” a child of the sea.  Her passion is documenting Hawaiian ocean lifestyle, nature, the heavens and the stars, cultural practices and geopolitical issues. Pake is known for big wave surfing and is also known for having a camera in her hand most of the time. She loves being a voice and advocate for her community and Hawaiian people whom are disenfranchised and are struggling.

As a professional artist she creates commercial work, philanthropic films, and powerful imagery that narrates and educates people globally on social justice, environmental awareness, and cultural issues that impact her community and people. She continually makes a positive difference in her local community by inspiring health and wellness and creating imagery that she believes can help reconcile the struggle and heal the viewer.

Her artistry is never self-serving. Ms. Salmon continually supports her community by documenting traditions and speaking to her politicians locally and in Washington D.C. She enjoys teaching and mentoring the youth in ocean awareness and multimedia productions. “Pākē” is a versatile businesswoman who is developing her art practice. She has a deep passion for documenting and producing Polynesian storytelling.

 

 

Ray

 

Ray is the grandchild of Marilyn Tsukayama, Hideo Tsukayama, Patricia Lee, and Dennis Lee. They were born and raised in Ahuimanu by Jay and Neil Tsukayama. Ray is a queer Kanaka Asian settler on Ohlone land. Their home is a Sunset rooftop after midnight and Alawiki rain gutters after November.

 

Reed Glover

 

Reed Glover, under the pseudonym of Rehash, is a trans-masculine hispanic identical twin from Oʻahu. He is a self taught artist, primarily working in digital and oil painting mediums that focus on past experiences of abuse and reality of recovering, transgender inequality and visibility, and gender conformity. His current interest is exploring the disconnect between physical sensations and emotional experiences. Reed is known for his volunteer poster work with the Honolulu division of Sofar Sounds.

 

 

Sunshine Velasco

 

A proud Oakland resident, photographer Sunshine Velasco was born in the Philippines and raised in Oʻahu and in Milpitas, California, daughter and granddaughter of Pilipino immigrants. She is a queer-identified Pilipina who pushes social and political boundaries to convey images through portraits, fine art, and documentary projects.

Sunshine’s images have been featured in daily newspapers such Asian News and The  Roundup-News, The Daily Californian, KQED, San Francisco Chronicle (print and digital) and the web outlet mattblack.com. Additional media coverage has included Asian and Pacific Islander  Heritage Month as well as Makeshift Magazine. Her work has also been exhibited throughout the  Bay Area at venues such as Betti Ono Gallery, SomArts Gallery, and as part of curated multimedia events such as Outside the Frame Film Festival, and Kearny Street Workshop’s 2015 APAture Festival.

 

 

Von Dickens Ulsa

 

Von’s conservative and Catholic upbringing did not deter his passion in delving into the sexuality and sensuality aspects of the arts. Moving to Honolulu from the Philippines in 2009, Von developed his cartoonist and comics-inspired style into the higher forms of art through his high school art teacher at Farrington High School. He blends various mediums but primarily uses watercolor and colored pencils. Von sites Gustav Klimt as his major artistic influence, which includes Edward Munch and Vincent Van Gogh.

His current projects explore narratives of minorities on the artistic lenses. He seeks to subvert the “white male gaze” in the context of art history as well as reestablish the pre-colonial Filipino aesthetics such as patterns, styles, and calligraphy.

Von holds a triple bachelor’s degree in American Studies, English, and History from the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, graduating magna cum laude in spring 2016. His works have been exhibited in Los Angeles, Seattle, and Washington (DC), and he has sold commissions to Germany, Sweden, and Spain.



Panel Discussion and Q&A from the opening night of ALSO HERE

Featuring exhibiting artists Cheyne Gallarde, Emily Kandagawa, Jehzan Exclusive, and Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng.

Hosted & Curated by Lala Openi.
Background music: Solange's "Cranes in the Sky" Instrumental by @JoeyTreats.co.uk





"What is the dominant narrative we’re playing into?

The dominant narrative is “ok, 'Pride' is this white male theme that came from the United States, so we’re trying to give ourselves a voice within this white narrative" ...and that really doesn’t make sense especially within the [context of] Hawai‘i. And to that, I appreciate the way that you titled this exhibit...this IS 'The Occupied Hawaiian Kingdom' that we're talking about... American perspective… that doesn’t apply here - the American presence here is very recent - considering 2000 years of non-gender binary cultural practice and social standing for Mahu and queer people in Hawai’i."
— Emily Kandagawa


"I really appreciate this show - When I think about the scarcity model of it all, I think it goes back historically to the idea of the Western construct of what a 'museum' or an 'exhibit' space is - that it initially was made for people of color to be put in cages, in boxes for white people to look at us and dissect us.
If you think back to the human zoo, people of color were literally in cages and white people would walk around an gawk and stare and talk about [us] as if we were 'the other.'
For us, this scarcity model is nothing new - it just changes form. Our power and responsibility is for us then to create our own space, right? That if those spaces are not available for us, then we’re gona create our own space - just like this, right? It shouldn’t be our responsibility but that’s how systems of oppression work.

...its spaces like this that give hope that it is possible, that we are on the right path…And I’ve seen so many other exhibits and spaces with queer people of color…entering the conversation, disrupting the space and adding to the conversation of What are we doing here? What is our intention? How do we proceed to create something that is beyond 'White structural exhibits'?"

—Jocelyn Kapumealani Ng





All photos by Jen May Pastores




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