Tiana Nanayo Kuʻuleialoha Honda was born and raised on the island of Hawaiʻi in the small town of Hilo. Though her cultural background consists of several mixed ethnicities, she primarily identifies as Native Hawaiian (from her mother) and Japanese (from her father). Honda received her BA in Art with a minor in Japanese Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in 2019 and her MFA in Visual Art from the University of Kansas in 2023. Her current body of work reflects upon her relationship with home during her time of displacement from it, as well as her attempts to reacquaint herself with aspects of her mixed cultural identities.
The artist states:
I internalize my actions, experiences, emotions, and the environments around me as sources of inspiration. Through various printmaking processes, I imbue my works with a vulnerability that is difficult to verbalize but is best said through the manner in which I manipulate matrices and allow ink and paper to speak. My decision to move from Hawaiʻi, my home, has instilled displacement and an emotional separation from all aspects of familiarity. An urge to create work that reclaims ties to my Native Hawaiian ancestry, which has been greatly underappreciated, and cultural continuity, which has been long since lost.
tianahonda.com
Enjoy this exhibit until December 21, 2024