“Champurū” features watercolor paintings and textile works that document Kina’s return journeys to her ancestral homeland of Okinawa, Japan. Selected works from this series-in-progress debuted at Swarthmore College’s McCabe Library in Swarthmore, PA in Spring 2018. The title “Champurū” refers to an iconic Okinawan stir-fry dish. Kina uses this a metaphor in her still-life and landscape travel watercolors portraying a mix of sacred, domestic, tourist, and militarized zones—such as her auntie’s indigenous kitchen god alter to Hinukan or cheerful bowls of taco rice and goya (bitter melon) champurū with SPAM next to paintings of a glass cylinder and shattered window and that fell in December 2017 from US military helicopters from Futenma Marine Corps base onto a neighboring elementary school playground and nursery school roof.
Taco Rice, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2018Gama, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2018Helicopter window from a CH-53 Super Stallion helicopter from Futenma that fell onto the Futenma Daini School sports field Dec 13, 2017 Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Cylindrical object that fell on the roof of theMindorigaoka Nursery School Dec 6, 2017 (2.5 miles from Futenma) Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Andagi, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Mabuni, Itoman, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Auntie Fujiko’s Tsuboya Pottery, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Tsuboya Pottery – Dachibin (Hip Flask), Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Futenma Marine Corps base – Osprey landing, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Shrine at Naminoue Beach, Naha, Watercolor, 6.5×9”, 2017Island of the Gods – Ishiki Hama, Kudakajima, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Island of the Gods – Cape Kaberu, Kudakajima, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Kokusai Dori, Naha, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Hinukan shrine (kitchen god) at my Auntie Fujiko’s house Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Orion, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Valley of Gangala – 150-year-old Gajumaru tree, Nanjo City Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Turtles at Shikina-en Royal Garden, Watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Shikina-en Royal Garden, Watercolor, colored pencil, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Shisa Lions, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2017Shuri Castle, Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2018Spam and Goya (bitter melon), Watercolor, pen and ink, 6.5×9”, 2018Fence at Futenma, Acrylic on canvas with Okinawan bingata print fabric border 34.5” x 50”, 2018Resist, Assorted textiles (palaka, bingata prints, U.S. military camouflage) and bingata (design by Hiroji Kinjo), 31” x 48”, 2018 PURCHASE HERE
