The East Hawaii Cultural Center is currently showcasing a thought-provoking exhibition titled "Em-bodied: Body Politics," which runs through November 26. The exhibition features seven artists who explore the complex relationships humans have with their own bodies and how others present their bodies to the world. Using diverse artistic mediums including photography, textile collage, video, drawings, and installations, these artists challenge viewers to examine their own discomfort and preconceptions about the human form.
Among the featured artists is Mitchell Squire, a former bodybuilder who began creating plein-air self-portraits in 2020. His work explores the socio-sexual effects of extractive economies and race, an artistic journey that evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Squire presents his declining physical fitness without apology, forcing viewers to confront changing perceptions of the male body and athleticism.
Tongan artist Latai Taumoepeau's powerful performance piece "Dark Continent" is documented through photographs taken at the 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art in Sydney, Australia. The documentation captures Taumoepeau spray-painting herself in progressively darker shades every half hour throughout an entire weekend in 2015, creating a striking commentary on racial identity and colorism.
Skin tone continues as a central theme in the work of Lori Crawford, whose art incorporates brown paper bags that reference a historically significant but no longer accepted practice within the African American community. The "Brown Paper Bag Test" was a decades-old practice that involved comparing a person's skin tone to the color of a paper bag to determine social acceptability, highlighting the painful history of colorism within communities.
Ukrainian artist Oksana Briuhovetetska contributes a textile collage titled "In Solidarity with Ukraine," which employs different clothing styles and skin tones to envision women united against a backdrop of sunflowers. The sunflowers serve as a powerful symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian occupation, demonstrating how bodies can become vessels for political expression and solidarity.
Katarzyna Mirczak takes a unique approach with her collection of photographs titled "Tools of Crime," which paradoxically reminds viewers of human bodies through their absence. By presenting images that remain after death, Mirczak forces viewers to confront their own expectations and fears about mortality, creating a haunting meditation on what remains when the body is gone.
Hans van der Meer offers a completely different perspective through his video documentation of amateur football games in The Netherlands and other countries. The bodies captured in action in his work speak to the fundamental human desire for shared identification and belonging, with team uniforms serving as visual markers that tell viewers everything they need to know about the affiliations and loyalties of the players.
The exhibition also features works by Bruno Schulz, a significant Polish-Jewish modernist writer and artist who died in 1942. Best known for his unique, dreamlike prose and drawings, Schulz's work blends autobiography, fantasy, and philosophy. His pieces offer perhaps the most disturbing yet honest sketches of bodies, both literally and figuratively naked, along with the complex interactions of the people who inhabit them.
Visitors interested in experiencing the "Em-bodied: Body Politics" exhibition can visit the East Hawaii Cultural Center at 141 Kalākaua Street in downtown Hilo. The center operates under adjusted gallery hours that began on October 3: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, noon to 6 p.m. on Fridays, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. The center remains closed on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays. For additional information, visitors can call 808-961-5711, email admin@ehcc.org, or visit the East Hawaii Cultural Center website.
