Honolulu Biennial Announces First List Of Artists For 2019 Edition

On March 29, the Honolulu Biennial Foundation (HBF) announced the first list of 17 artists who will be participating in the 2019 edition of the Honolulu Biennial at the Asia Friends of Honolulu Biennial reception in Hong Kong. The biennial will feature over 40 international artists and collectives in total, one third of whom will be from Hawaii, with several works that directly respond to Hawaii’s island environs.

Titled “To Make Wrong / Right / Now,” the second edition of the biennial takes its cue from the poem “Manifesto,” written by participating native Hawaiian artist Imaikalani Kalahele. Centered around the idea of ‘aha—individual strands of fiber that are braided together in a series of knots to create a whole cord—the biennial will showcase contemporary works that reflect on themes of history, indigenous knowledge, decolonizing spirits, female empowerment, mythologies and non-Western technologies of land use.

Also announced was the appointment of assistant curator Josh Tengan, who will join lead curators Nina Tonga, curator of pacific cultures at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongowera, and Scott Lawrimore, art historian and exhibition designer at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Honolulu-born Tengan is an independent curator and arts project manager. He has worked with the non-profit Pu’uhonua Society since 2014, directing Hawaii’s largest thematic art exhibition, “Contact,” which provides a critical and comprehensive survey of local contemporary visual culture.

The first group of participating artists include:

Bernice Akamine (Kānaka Maoli/Japanese-American)

Ei Arakawa (Japan)

Raymond Boisjoly (Haida/Canada)

Abraham Cruzvillegas (Mexico)

Imaikalani Kalahele (Kānaka Maoli)

Lee Kit (Hong Kong)

Kapulani Landgraf (Kānaka Maoli)

Janet Lilo (Ngā Puhi/Niue/Samoa/Aotearoa)

Mata Aho Collective (Te Atiawa ki Whakarongotai, Ngāti Toa Rangātira, Ngāti Awa, Ngāi Tūhoe, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāi Te Rangi, Rangitāne ki Wairarapa/Aotearoa)

Marianne Nicolson (Musgamakw Dzawada’enuxw/Canada)

Paul Pfeiffer (United States/Philippines)

Rosanna Raymond, SaVAge K’lub (Samoa/Tuvalu/Aotearoa)

Natalie Robertson (Ngāti Porou/Clann Dhònnchaidh/Aotearoa)

Chiharu Shiota (Japan)

Kalisolaite ‘Uhila (Tonga/Aotearoa)

Guan Xiao (China)

Young-hae Chang Heavy Industries—Young-hae Chang/Marc Voge (Korea/United States)

Julee WJ Chung is the assistant editor of ArtAsiaPacific.

The second edition of the Honolulu Biennale is slated to take place in O’ahu and Hawai’i Island from March 8 to May 5, 2019.

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