Honolulu Museum of Art

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Nov. 21, 2024

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HAWAI‘I TRIENNIAL 2025: ALOHA NŌ OPENS AT HoMA FEB. 15

The highly anticipated event brings exciting contemporary art to venues throughout the islands; work by eight artists will be featured at HoMA

HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I—The Hawai‘i Triennial is the state’s largest thematic exhibition of contemporary art from Hawai‘i, the Pacific and beyond. The Honolulu Museum of Art has proudly been a participating venue since the Triennial debuted in 2017. This year the museum hosts the work of eight Hawai‘i Triennial artists whose practices are formed out of Indigenous heritages and strong matrilineal connections. The installations open on Feb. 15 at HoMA and more than 12 other venues on O‘ahu, Maui and Hawai‘i Island.

This spring the Triennial brings together the work of 49 artists and artist collectives across multiple sites on three islands. Its title—"Aloha Nō”—is a call to know Hawai‘i as a place of rebirth, resilience and resistance, a place that embraces humanity in all of its complexities, with a compassion that can only be described as aloha. “Nō” is an intensifIer in ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian language). By collapsing that word with the English “no,” two seemingly opposite notions, “Aloha Nō” reclaims aloha fom a colonial-capitalist historicity and situates it as a transformative power that is collectively enacted through contemporary art.

On view at HoMA will be work by Edith Amituanai, Teresita Fernández, Hayv Kahraman, Al Lagunero, Gisela McDaniel, Citra Sasmita, Rose B. Simpson, and Kanitha Tith. Seven new artworks and a recently produced film contemplate the notion of womanhood as a journey of vulnerability and resiliency, tenderness and strength. Interrogating the female body as a site of violence and colonization, as well as a source of creation and healing through truth telling, HT25 at HoMA prioritizes the ordinary as extraordinary and underscores the enduring aspects of aloha nō that persevere through adversity. Learn more about the artists.

“HoMA is honored to be a part of Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 to present exciting contemporary art from throughout the Pacific,” said HoMA director and CEO Halona Norton-Westbrook. “As the world faces mounting difficult issues, more than ever people need a connection to art to be able to think in a more empathetic, critical, holistic way. We share Hawai‘i Contemporary’s mission to create transformative art experiences for our community. By collaborating together our organizations can even more deeply contribute to creating this crucial connection.”

HT25 is organized by Hawai‘i Contemporary and curated by Wassan Al-Khudhairi, Binna Choi and Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu, the first non-hierarchical trio of curators composed of women of color in the history of the Triennial. As part of an established field of art biennials and triennials around the world, HT25 is an internationally recognized, large-scale exhibition that presents the latest artistic works and explores local-global dialogues through a Hawai‘i- and Pacific-centered lens.

“The past year was profoundly painful for so many of us—locally, nationally and globally,” said Kahanu. “As we thought about the role of contemporary art and the Hawai‘i Triennial, we kept returning to the notion of aloha, as a means of conversing about healing, solidarity and shared humanity. Aloha Nō allows us to process grief and emerge more whole, and ready to love anew.”

About Hawai‘i Triennial and Hawai‘i Contemporary
The Hawai‘i Triennial is organized by Hawai‘i Contemporary, a nonprofit arts organization founded in 2015 to cultivate a diverse network of cultural alliances and mutually reciprocal partnerships to create a a resilient and accessible gateway for contemporary culture in Hawai‘i.

Inspired by the unique histories of Hawai‘i as a gathering place for diverse peoples, cultures and ideas, Hawai‘i Contemporary connects communities from across the islands and the regions united by the Pacific Ocean through contemporary art. As a collaborative partner, it holds the Hawai‘i Triennial every three years. The multisite exhibition has commissioned and presented work by more than 130 artists and art collectives from Hawai‘i and around the world. Complemented by year-round public programming, Hawai‘i Triennial affirms the organization’s mission to positively contribute to a vibrant arts ecosystem in Hawai‘i and inspire meaningful exchanges around the visual arts.

About the Honolulu Museum of Art

HoMA is a gathering place where art, education, and community converge in two iconic buildings in the heart of Honolulu. Presenting our remarkable collection and innovative exhibitions in the galleries, screening the best in new cinema, and offering a full curriculum of studio art classes, HoMA is a vital, transformative part of Hawai‘i’s cultural landscape accessible to all.

The museum inspires and uplifts the community through transformative art experiences that celebrate creativity, cultivate wonder, foster empathy and enhance knowledge in order to deepen our connections with one another and the world we share.

www.honolulumuseum.org