Inundation: Art and Climate Change in the Pacific

January 19, 2020 - February 28, 2020
Mānoa Campus, Art Building, The Art Gallery

"Inundation" refers to both the watery disasters of climate change and the overwhelming emotions they evoke. This exhibition, curated by Jaimey Hamilton Faris, Associate Professor at the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, features work by Mary Babcock, Kaili Chun, DAKOgamay, James Jack, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Joy Lehuanani Enomoto, Charles Lim, and Angela Tiatia.

Based in the Pacific, these artists experience the climate emergency as an extension of long-term colonial, extractive and developmental forces that have made their communities especially vulnerable. The exhibition will also be on view at the Donkey Mill Art Center, Holualoa, Hawai‘i, from March 28 – June 26, 2020.

This major group show consists of multi-media videos, installations, and community performance projects, many of which have been conceived for this exhibition. Artists address climate justice situations in Hawai‘i, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu, the Philippines, Okinawa, and Singapore. As curator Hamilton Faris writes the exhibition “create[s] a space to process raw emotions, inspire collective imagination, and generate capacity for creative, actionable, and communal responses to our watery climate.”

Events + Programs (events are free and open to the public)

Sunday, January 19
1:30 — 3:00 p.m., Artist talks
3:00 — 5:00 p.m., Opening reception with poetry by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner

Tuesday, January 21
4:00 — 7:30 p.m., Water Talks: Climate Justice in the Pacific, Ho'okupu Center

Thursday, January 23
4:00 — 7:30 p.m., Water Talks II: Climate Justice in the Pacific, The Art Gallery

Saturday, January 25
9:00 — 11:00 a.m., Honolulu Community Walk, starting at KIPUKA
2:00 — 5:00 p.m., Honolulu Solutions Workshop, Box Jelly Ward Village

Tuesday, February 18
1:30 — 3:00 p.m., Sensing Policy with Sarah Wiebe and Lala Nuss, The Art Gallery

Thursday, February 27
6:00 — 8:00 p.m., Interference Patterns with Drew Broderick, Art Auditorium

Image: Angela Tiatia, "Holding On," 2015. Courtesy of the artist and Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney and Singapore.


Ticket Information
Free admission. Hours: Mon. – Fri. 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., Sun. 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Closed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Jan. 20; Presidents Day, Feb. 17. Parking fees may apply on weekdays; parking is free on Sundays.

Event Sponsor
Art & Art History, Mānoa Campus

More Information
Sharon Tasaka, 808-956-8364, gallery@hawaii.edu,

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