Page 13 - MidWeek - Feb 16, 2022

Exhibition To Showcase The Works Of Many Local Artists
FEBRUARY 16, 2022 MIDWEEK 13
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and keiki activities also planned for the event, Chiu anticipates that the show’s expected tens of thousands of art fans — ranging from the ca- sual to the hardcore — will discover all that’s inspiring and astounding about HT22.
ick. Honolulu Museum of Art, he adds, will be the site to honor their work through “a selection of power- ful moments” taken from their book.
Bishop Museum — Chitra Ganesh, Michael Joo with Alchemyverse (Yixuan Shao and Bicheng Liang), Karrabing Film Collective, Izumi Kato, Pacific Sisters, Ahilapalapa Rands, Lawrence Seward, Gaku Tsutaja
Foster Botanical Garden — Ai Weiwei, Leeroy New, TOQA (Isabel Sicat and Aiala Rickard)
Hawai‘i State Art Museum — ‘Ai Pōhaku
Press (Maile Meyer and Barbara Pope),
Richard Bell, ‘Elepaio Press (Richard and Mark Hamasaki), Nā Maka O Ka ‘Āina (Joan Lander and Puhipau), Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio, Piliāmo‘o (Mark Hamasaki and Kapulani Landgraf ), Lawrence Seward, Tropic Editions
‘Iolani Palace — Richard Bell, Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osario and Jennifer Steinkamp
Honolulu Museum of Art —
Theaster Gates, Ed Greevy and
Haunani-Kay Trask, Masanori
Handa, Ai Iwane, Yuree Kensaku,
Sung Hwan Kim and David Michael
DiGregorio, Liu Xiaodong, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Shinro Ohtake, Lawrence Seward, Mika Tajima, Xu Bing, Chikako Yamashiro, 目 [mé]
Royal Hawaiian Center — Herman Pi‘ikea Clark, Tsuyoshi Hisakado, Miao Ying, Beatriz Santiago Munoz, Lawrence Seward, Double A Projects (Athena Robles and Anna Stein), Sun Xun, Momoyo Torimitsu, Justine Youssef, Zheng Bo
Hawai‘i Theatre Center — Ming Wong
“Even those who are frequent museum goers will find something surprising about the exhibition,” she
“Trask and Greevy’s friendship and working relationship endure as a testament to the importance of mo- bilizing in solidarity to protect peo- ple and place, while acknowledging cultural differences,” he says.
Spromises.
tanding at the forefront of this year’s collection of art- ists is Ai Weiwei, an icono-
The film Midnight Smoothie from the collective TOQA will be shown at Foster Botanical Garden. PHOTO COURTESY HAWAI‘I CONTEMPORARY
Formed by storytellers and doc- umentarians Joan Lander and Puhi- pau (Abraham Ahmad), Nā Maka O Ka ‘Āina “emerged from the social and environmental justice movements that spread across the Hawaiian archipelago during the 1970s and persist to this day,” ex- plains Broderick.
clast whose poignant sculptures, installation pieces and photogra- phy have been the source of inspi- ration to many over the years. The Beijing-born artist’s willingness to contribute to the show — first, by designing limited-edition face masks that honor the islands’ nat- ural environment and whose sales benefit event organizer Hawai‘i Contemporary (email aloha@ha- waiicontemporary.org to order); and second, by presenting a new itera- tion of his sculpture, Tree, which re- flects an urgent call to action against environmental disruption — was naturally welcomed by Chiu and her associate curators, who include Dr. Miwako Tezuka.
critical of the Chinese government’s stance on human rights issues, Wei- wei has also been one of the most vocal commentators on deforesta- tion and pollution. As a result, the dissident artist has produced his share of documentaries that mirror his political convictions — most notably, Coronation (2020), Human Flow (2017) and Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry (2012).
He adds that the duo’s many films — which include A Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (1983), Waimānalo Eviction (1985), Ka- ho‘olawe Aloha ‘Āina (1992) and Mauna Kea–Temple Under Siege (2005) — will be presented at Hawaii State Art Museum and feature previ- ously unreleased archival footage.
Weiwei’s artwork, which will be staged on the upper terrace of Foster Botanical Garden, marks his first-ever showing in the islands.
As Chiu notes, “We wanted to in- clude his work not only because of his standing within the art world, but also because he’s become more and more engaged with environmental issues. He was in Brazil and wit- nessed the degradation of the Am- azon, and that sparked a number of his works that were based on trees.”
“Together, Lander and Puhipau (have) documented and perpetuated Hawaiian culture, history, language, art, music, dance, environment, and the politics of independence and self-determination in Hawai‘i, Moananui and elsewhere,” notes Broderick, an independent cura- tor and educator from Kailua who serves as director of Koa Gallery at Kapi‘olani Community College.
“He’s grafted pieces of wood together to create a series of three trees — two of them are wooden, and the other is made from iron,” explains Chiu, an internationally renowned curator and native of Australia who currently serves as director of Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. “Those three trees have a dialogue with the other trees at the botanical garden, so they speak to one another as a group.”
Other participating artists whose works will be featured include Ha- wai‘i’s own Jamaica Osorio, Gaye Chan, the late Haunani-Kay Trask, Ed Greevy and the video production team Nā Maka O Ka ‘Āina. Austra- lia’s Richard Bell and the Philip- pines’ Leeroy New are just two of the international artists on HT22’s schedule.
As for Bell, he’ll be presenting “Embassy,” which Tezuka describes as “a nod to the 1970s Aboriginal movement and fight for land rights in Australia.” Meanwhile, the Ma- nila-based New is expected to un- veil one installation — made out of plastic bottles and surfboards — that is site-specific to Foster Botan- ical Garden.
and trained art historian who was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Ja- pan, and currently works as associ- ate director for Reversible Destiny Foundation, a progressive artist-ar- chitects-poets group in New York.
for an equally talented curatorial team that has labored many days and nights to ensure that this event comes to fruition.
While Weiwei’s artistic achieve- ments are recognized around the globe, it was also his roles as activist and documentarian that made him a necessary part of the exhibition,
Trask, a longtime activist and sovereignty leader who passed away last summer, and Greevy, a photog- rapher, published the book Kū‘ē: Thirty Years of Land Struggles in Hawai‘i in 2004 over “their shared concerns for justice,” says Broder-
“We wanted to bring in artists who we could bring in works that are not just illustrative of certain narratives, but who are also able to weave in historical and contextual stories into their materialization of artwork,” says Tezuka, an author
Beyond the impressive collection of artistic talent, HT22 represents a major triumph for art fans who’ ve been waiting for something to cel- ebrate since the pandemic began. It also is a fitting accomplishment
13Chiu says. Aside from being highly
A well-regarded poet, Osorio is expected to create a new poem for the exhibition, according to Tezuka, while Chan “will be doing works across the city that will be a surprise.”
As Chiu says, “It’s no small feat that this is happening in the age of COVID. There have been many interruptions and starts and stops along the way, but we have perse- vered and we’ re so excited about finally being able to present this exhibition.”
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