The Farthest Shore

This large-scale diptych repeats text found on various family documents whose naturalization papers include their signatures and the line “so help me God,” paired with images of activists, immigrant healthcare workers, children in Filipina attire at Maui festivals, children in refugee camps, families moving in migrant caravans, and military scenes derived from border disputes around the world. A portal in the form of a doorway offers passage into a different world, with plants endemic to Hawai‘i rendered as an armature for the painted figures. The title of the painting refers to Hawai‘i —a distant shore for waves of immigrants over the past two centuries.

2018

oil, silk and ink on linen, 68 x 160 in, collection of Honolulu Museum of Art

This large-scale diptych repeats text found on various family documents whose naturalization papers include their signatures and the line “so help me God,” paired with images of activists, immigrant healthcare workers, children in Filipina attire at Maui festivals, children in refugee camps, families moving in migrant caravans, and military scenes derived from border disputes around the world. A portal in the form of a doorway offers passage into a different world, with plants endemic to Hawai‘i rendered as an armature for the painted figures. The title of the painting refers to Hawai‘i —a distant shore for waves of immigrants over the past two centuries.

Featured in MIGRANT

← Previous