Aupuni Space Jr vol. 4

Kamehanaokalā Taylor
ʻAlohi Chinen
Lily Mahealani Mitchell
Dylan Gomez
Mananakealoha Paschoal
Kano Watanabe
Kera Rasavanh with
Vincent Bercasio

May 2 – June 13, 2026
Opening May 2, 6pm

We are pleased to present Aupuni Space Junior vol. 4, a group exhibition featuring artists of Hawaiʻi whom we have not previously shown. This fourth installment in a series that began in 2023 continues to highlight the excellence of young and emerging Kānaka ʻŌiwi artists, as well as artists of Hawaiʻi, creating space for them within our programming.

We invite you to join us in celebrating this group of artists as we carry this initiative forward.

Kamehanaokalā Taylor shares deeply personal writing with the viewer through exacting hand-painted lettering using ʻalaea ink on hau paper, both hand-made using ʻāina-based theories and practices that honor Kanaka Hawaiʻi ancestral knowledge.

ʻAlohi Chinen of Hawaiʻi Island approaches fermentation as both a preservation technology and a cultural expression through ʻŌpū as Living Archive, creating living vinegars from plant varieties to observe how distinct lineages, growing conditions, and microbial ecologies shape flavor, acidity, preservation qualities, and medicinal effects.

Lily Mahealani Mitchell presents SOS, an archival collage book detailing the histories of urbanization in Hawaiʻi using found materials from the Save Our Surf movement—instrumental in protecting Hawaiʻi’s shorelines and advocating for aloha ʻāina.

Dylan Gomez uses copper to record the forms of pōhaku around Kahaluʻu, transcribing stories of the land into a nonhuman entity. Through copper—as a pre-contact metallurgy in the artist’s ancestral Mexico—these works reconnect Gomez to his ancestral homeland while grounding him in Hawaiʻi nei, a place he loves and seeks to honor.

Mananakealoha Paschoal creates faithful retellings of beloved moʻolelo through 3D animation while honoring the proper preservation protocols of Hawaiian historiography. Kai Ina illustrates an ʻina (urchin) sauce recipe shared during a Ka Leo Hawaiʻi interview with Rachel Nāhaleʻelua Mahuiki.

Kano Watanabe works at the multicultural intersection of her Japanese ancestry and Maui-grown perspective; her material and conceptual explorations blend 和風 (wafū) elements with values rooted in aloha ʻāina.

Kera Rasavanh uses printmaking as a tool for collaboration, interpreting a photograph by Vincent Bercasio through a four-color printing process on a translucent spun material to record something akin to an afterimage of its original likeness.