Kawika Kalama

Kawika Kalama ( They / Them ) is a Kanaka Maoli ( Native Hawaiian ), Filipino, and Chinese multidisciplinary teaching artist, photographer, and farmer. Their work explores how we are connected to the Honua ( Earth ), our communities, and food systems, encouraging people of all cultures to embrace their histories, reconnect with their cultures, and perpetuate traditional ways of being. Their work is inspired by photographers like Matika Wilbur, Kapulei Flores, and Minor White and intellectuals like Audre Lorde, Maria Lugones, and bell hooks. Cohabitation and reconnecting with nature, mindfulness of place, and subverting entrenched systems are motifs that are heavily influenced by their family’s Daoist, Buddhist, and Native Hawaiian beliefs. Kalama is a teaching artist in Portland, Oregon. They have the honor of teaching at Kindness Farm, Grace Art Camp, and Past Lives. Their work has been shown at the Lincoln City Cultural Center and Hallie Ford Museum of Fine Art.