The consequences of armed conflicts, and how they weave themselves into our lives, provide the theme for the latest exhibition at the East Hawaii Cultural Center. “Ghosts of War” presents the work of five women artists.
The opening is 6 p.m. this Friday, and the exhibition is on view until March 31.
According to a press release from EHCC, the exhibit encompasses a range of mediums and narratives, as each artist has a different story to tell.
In her film “Letter to a Turtledove,” Dana Kevelina combines amateur footage found on the internet, shot subsequent to Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, with archival footage of Donbas from 1930, when the region was a hot spot for Stalinist industrialization. Her poetic text recombines the disparate materials into a surreal anti-war poem, noting the distortion of history and the dehumanization of the entire Ukrainian region of the country.
A survivor of the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990), painter Reem Bassous, who is currently living in Hawaii, evokes memories from her youth, placing her personal experiences in the context of historical unrest and a national trajectory. The history of ancient and modern Beirut includes traumas of place and the inhabitants of the artist’s hometown.
“Gamma Trace,” the subtle work of the Polish artist Monika Niwelinska, was created in the desert in New Mexico, approximately 60 miles north of White Sand National Monument. On July 16, 1945, under the code-name Trinity Site, the first atomic tests in history were carried out there. The artist investigates whether the land in this area is still radioactive, using photosensitive copper plates and exposing them to gamma rays in the radioactive field.
Gongsan Kim, a Korean artist living in the USA since 1997, pays tribute to the victims of the North Korean regime in her works. Her ritual performance involves making layered sculptures — altar-like images envisioned to heal the wounded spirits of the murdered victims of the dictatorship, thrown into collective pits without tombstones or names.
“The Morphology of War” by Svitlana Biedarieva focuses on the idea that each society gives birth to its own monsters. Biedarieva uses images from European illuminated manuscripts and bestiaries, reinterpreting them digitally — implying that the absurdity of history does not change with centuries.
For more information, visit EHCC online at ehcc.org, call 961-5711, or visit EHCC at 141 Kalakaua Street. Gallery and office hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.