2011 Uchinanchu Taikai shirt worn by delegates from the LA Kenjinkai
donated by Ryan Yokota, Air Force uniform. 2016
Collection of the Okinawan Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, Naha, Okinawa, Japan
Laura Kina: Uchinanchu
February 27 – April 23, 2016
W. Keith and Janet Kellogg University Art Gallery
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
3801 W. Temple Ave. Pomona, CA 91768
On view as part of Transnational Lives in Motion: The Art of Laura Kina and Viêt Lê
Co-curated by Mary Yu Danico and Michele Cairella Fillmore
Uchinanchu: The Art of Laura Kina
June 10 – October 27, 2016
Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture
California Lutheran University
60 West Olsen Road #3800
Thousand Oaks, CA 91320
Uchinanchu is the Uchinaguchi (Okinawan) language word for “Okinawan.” Uchinanchu (2015–2016) features textile-based paintings in which I, as a mixed race, yonsei, Uchinanchu, consider my proximity and distance to Asian American, white, Okinawan diaspora, and indigenous identities and communities. Using the form of a patchwork quilt as a starting point, the works simultaneously reference rural southern craft traditions I learned from my maternal great-grandma, Japanese boro quilts and Hawaiian quilts that refer to my paternal cultural heritage, and contemporary feminist and craft art practices.
Fragments of t-shirts appear in each work and trace return migrations to the similarly colonized island locals of Hawaiʻi and Okinawa. These quilt/hybrid paintings additionally function as family portraits and pay homage to specific Okinawan American activists, artists, and academics and Okinawan diaspora communities in Hawaiʻi and Los Angeles and my location of Chicago. The t-shirts, which I solicited from friends and family and recycled from my own archives, document group affiliations such as Honolulu Marathon finishers, Okinawan Association of America members, and participants in the Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival. These are combined with colorfully painted iconic and celebratory symbols of a globalized contemporary Hawaiʻi (e.g., SPAM and Hello Kitty) and Okinawan culture – shisa lions, bingata style flowers, andagi (Okinawan doughnut) – as well as symbols of contested histories, spaces, and bodies such as the hajichi tattoo tradition or the endangered dugong.
Taken together, the works are about islands of diaspora and explore themes of transnational family ties and heritage tourism, mixedness, ethnic pride and solidarity, military and colonial histories, and current geopolitical military/environment issues in Okinawa and Hawaiʻi.
Also included in this exhibition is my 2012 quilt/painting “Omiyage,” which tells my father’s story of forgiving his absent father. This four-panel piece is set against the backdrop of our family’s history of Okinawan sugarcane plantation and military service in Hawaiʻi.
This exhibition and catalog have been funded in part by a 2016 grant from the DePaul University Research Council.
I would also like to thank my family along with artist Denise Uyehara (Arizona), author Lee A. Tonouchi (Hawaiʻi), scholar-activists Mitzi Uehara Carter (Miami) and Ryan Yokota (Chicago) and members of the Okinawa Association of America, especially Allyson Nakamoto and Joey Yoshimasu Kamiya (Los Angeles), for their donations of t-shirts for this project.
Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines uniforms. 2016
t-shirts from the artist’s child Midori Aronson. 2015
Allyson Nakamoto, Joey Yoshimasu Kamiya and members of
the Okinawa Association of America. 2015
t-shirt from Denise Uyehara. 2015
Collection of the Okinawan Prefectural Museum and Art Museum, Naha, Okinawa, Japan
from Lee A. Tonouchi, Mitzi Uehara Carter, Denise Uyehara, Allyson Nakamoto,
Joey Yoshimasu Kamiya and members of the Okinawa Association of America, LA. 2015
t-shirts from the artist’s daughter Midori Aronson. 2015
assorted fabrics, t-shirts from the artist and her daughter Midori Aronson. 2015
PURCHASE HERE
from the artist’s parents George and Diane Kina. 2015
PURCHASE HERE
artist’s old studio t-shirts circa late 1980s. 2015
artist’s old studio t-shirts circa early 2000’s. 2015
artist’s old t-shirts circa early 2000’s. FAAIM cat logo usage courtesy of
Foundation for Asian American Independent Media. 2015
assorted fabrics, artist’s old t-shirts
circa 2003-2013. 2015
assorted fabrics, t-shirts from the artist’s cousin
Dawn Yoshioka. 2015
Acrylic on linen, embroidery, patchwork quilt. 2012
Acrylic on linen, embroidery, patchwork quilt. 2012
Acrylic on linen, embroidery, patchwork quilt. 2012
Acrylic on linen, embroidery, patchwork quilt. 2012
Installation Photos
Kellogg University Art Gallery, Cal Poly Pomona
Photo Credit: William Gunn, Wolverine Photography
1. Opening reception 
2. Opening receptiomn 
3. Opening reception 
4. Laura Kina, “Shisa Lion and Shave Ice,” “Hapa,” and “Finisher” 
5. Laura Kina, “Shisa Lion and Shave Ice,” “Hapa,” and “Finisher” 
6. Laura Kina, “No Justice. No Peace,” “Andagi,” “Shisa Lion and Shave Ice,” and “Hapa” 
7. Laura Kina, “Shisa Lion and Shave Ice,” “Hapa,” and “Finisher” 
8. Laura Kina, “Dare” and “I Speak English” 
9. Laura Kina, “Basketball” (background) 
10. Laura Kina, “Basketball” 
11. Laura Kina, “No Justice. No Peace” and “Andagi” 
12. Laura Kina, “Andagi” 
13. Laura Kina, “Omiyage” (4 panels) 
14. Laura Kina, “Hajichi” and “Orion” 
15. Laura Kina, “Hajichi” and “Orion” 
16. Laura Kina, “Hajichi” and “Orion” 
17. Laura Kina, “Hajichi” 
18. Laura Kina, “Orion” 
19. Laura Kina, “Hello Kitty” and “Spam” 
20. Laura Kina, “Hello Kitty” 
21. Laura Kina, “Spam” and “Hanagasa” 
22. Laura Kina, “Spam,” “Hanagasa,” and “No Base” 
23. Laura Kina, “Spam” and “Hanagasa” 
24. Laura Kina, “Hanagasa,” and “No Base” 
25. Artists Laura Kina (center) and Viet Le with opening night performer Tin Tin, co-curators Mary Yu Danico and Michele Cairella Fillmore and the staff of the Kellogg Gallery