Languages are held between various mediums and ideas; this informs the means in which I communicate various feelings or concepts. This includes topics of social structure (class, gender, etc.) and awareness of self. My piece, Nā Keiki o ka Āina,, stands to claim present identity within social structure and history Nā Keiki o ka Āina is a Hawaiian saying which translates to “Children of the Land”. This series is titled this because in Hawaii, the people have a strong connection to the land. The connections between person, nature, and culture are the reasons that the photographs are of only the transformed clothing, the individual Hawaiian, and their solitary existence within nature. These garments blur lines between masculine/feminine attire within the context of the female frame (body). Collective experience and struggle with representation and decolonization is what inspired me to take photographs of the other nā wahine Hawaii (Hawaiian women) in my life. Nā Keiki o ka Āina exists to broaden and connect various ideas of existentialism and identity within one’s own existence, using clothing and photography

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Currently Showing in the 6th Floor Showcase at UC DAAP

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