mark yoshizumi | daiei i'hi | 20" x 20" | oil on wood
 
The exhibition presents artists who explore themes of place, belonging, and hybrid experiences of identity. The works wryly examine under-recognized details of Hawaii ephemera, calling to mind how objects anchor us in a sense of home. They parse identities that are often mixed, with relationships to places that traverse local, indigenous, hapa, and foreign. What is a “local” artist and who can make “local” work? These artists challenge that narrow concept and propose a synthesis of multiple influences where excitement is found in the remix, rather than in a single isolated identity.  
Small details function like a secret key - family photographs or clutter at an auntie’s house - that unlock a type of nostalgia. There is an ode to Asian immigrant resourcefulness and a reverence paid to everyday objects that would otherwise be overlooked. They push back at the fetishized display of our tropical surroundings while elevating common scenes to a kind of magic. These artists ask the question that many in the diaspora hold dear: whether one’s relationship to home is fixed or mutable, real or imagined.
 
Mark Yoshizumi is a painter from Boston MA. living and working in Manoa Valley, HI. Mark’s studio practice is used as a tool to combat distraction. His imagery surveys a personal narrative with nostalgia, labor, and the local landscape. References are collected and collaged together from drawings, phone photography and memory.