Hawai’i Triennial 2025 (HT25) Delegation Report
ALOHA NŌ
by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge
Report: April 19, 2025
My time during the Triennial was invigorating and exploratory. Moving around Honolulu, meeting and seeing local and global artists was helpful for me to understand the importance of this location and its connection to other islands / countries / territories beyond. Witnessing how artists and their nations create autonomy for themselves within colonial structures was also interesting from a perspective outside of Canada. Stephanie Syjuco did well to reclaim cultural agency in terms of her installation and the explanatory text to accompany the work. She describes that by gently “releasing” Filipinos from historic black and white photos taken by American and Spanish colonial photographers she was allowing them to leave and live a life beyond the picture – refusing to “remain stuck in the image”. This work was described to “confront the politics of curatorship and the display of marginalized histories in museum exhibits.” (exhibition text quotes)
Stephanie Syjuco – Blind Spots (Artifacts) 2024, photographs, mounts and casework Interrogates systems of power and the dynamics of archival authority. Photo provided by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.
Another powerful work was by Sonia Kelliher-Combs. This work was ghostly and hauntingly beautiful when moving beside it and it’s message was no less impactful in remembering native peoples lost to suicide. To see an artist from a cold climate (Alaska) similar to my environment show work in a tropical climate like Hawaii was also an interesting juxtaposition that I was struck by. Its power was no less impactful despite the distance from where it was created. I was talking with a person earlier that day at the hotel who happened to be getting married at Capitol Modern later that day and he showed us a photo of this same work. Impacted by its beauty, he was hoping to be photographed with it on his wedding day with his newly wedded wife. What touches people whether they know the content or not always strikes me and witnessing this work has changed me somehow.
Sonia Kelliher-Combs, White Idiot Strings, 2025,sheep rawhide, wool yarn, beeswax, steel wire, nylon thread, acrylic paint. Photo provided by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.
Moving about the city was very enjoyable as I could see how the city fabric weaved itself through the artworks and vice versa. One artwork by Lehuauakea spoke to me in a similar way due to its diverse materials, slow weaving patterns with softness. All things I encountered throughout the trip.
Lehuauakea, Still Finding My Way Back Home, 2025, Kapa, plant dyes, earth pigments, reclaimed silk and cotton, hand embroidery, bells, ceramic beads. Photo provided by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.
Of the many sites I enjoyed the outdoor venues such as the Foster Gardens where I went a few times to the artworks there. Each time I visited the artwork changed over the course of the day. Another location for the Triennial was particularly Impactful which was at Honolulu City Hall. There was a powerful presentation by artist Meleanna Alulimeyer at the Honolulu City Hall as part of the Opening Dedication on Feb 14th. The artist/educator described how her work came into being during the dedication and how it feeds into the synthesis of the Triennial’s theme. This was a powerful reflection of community building practices. It also incorporated the symbol, Umeke, also used for the triennial logo, which has an intricate link to craft so there was a lot of reciprocity to the event, the artwork and the Triennial as a whole with this artwork. One writing about the work said that this work transformed “the ʻumeke into a monument to healing and reflection.” This work will remain at city hall for a limited time (aprox 3 months) and she invites
the community to meet inside the bowl to have healing conversations around regrowth for the self and others.
Meleanna Alulimeyer, ʻUmeke Lāʻau (Culture Medicine) at Honolulu Hale / City Hall – Opening Dedication. Photo provided by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.
Overall I had a trip that was calm, peaceful and powerful. The trip was well organized and the group I traveled with was truly amazing. I will treasure this time and look forward to finding connections from this trip moving forward in my own practice as a curator, artist and architect.
Photo provided by Tiffany Shaw-Collinge.
Tiffany Shaw-Collinge is a Métis architect, artist and curator based in Alberta. She holds a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University, a Masters in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) and is currently working at Reimagine Architects and recently started an Indigenous owned consulting company, named Reimagine Gathering. Shaw has exhibited widely including the Architecture Venice Biennale, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Pier 21, Agnes Etherington Art Centre and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. She has been the recipient of multiple public art commissions such as Edmonton’s Indigenous Art Park and Winnipeg’s Markham Bus Station. Among her public art projects Tiffany has produced several notable transitory art works and is a core member of Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective.
Oscillating between digital and analogue methodologies Shaw’s work gathers notions of craft, memory and atmosphere. Her practice is often guided by communal interventions as a way to engage a lifted understanding of place. While born in Calgary and raised in Edmonton, Shaw’s Métis lineage derives from Fort McMurray via Fort McKay/Fort Chipewyan and the Red River.
