Transforming Trauma Into Art

Activism, creativity, family, Film, inspiration, Narrative, Origin story, podcast, press, process, Speaking, Story

I was recently a guest on the Future Tripping Podcast, a project of the Trauma Stewardship Institute. The host, Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, is an author/activist, an internationally recognized leader in the field of trauma exposure ~ and one of my dearest friends for the past 30+ years! As such, she holds all the pieces of my personal, family, work and creative life. At its core, our conversation reveals the depth and breadth of “making art to better understand my cultural inheritance and legacy,” and shows why art – the creation and maintenance of it – can be an essential act of liberation.💗

Art Magazine Article

Activism, article, creativity, Exhibition, inspiration, Narrative, Origin story, press, Print, process, Story

I am delighted to be featured in the Summer issue of PublicDisplay.ART ~ Seattle’s only community-supported, arts-focused publication. What an honor to be in the company of so many artists I admire. And it’s the first time my art & story has been featured in print media!

If you’re in Seattle, you can find the magazine at 600+ local retailers, restaurants, cafes, galleries, bars and libraries around town. Or if you prefer, you can view the issue online here (I’m on pg 26-27).

PublicDisplay.ART is published by OneReel, the same organization that produces NW Folklife and Bumbershoot (among many other cultural events/projects year round).

Scanning the Room

Activism, Art For Sale, collaboration, creativity, Exhibition, Gallery

I’m honored to be a participating artist in “Scanning the Room” at Vashon Center for the Arts (May 5-28). This invitational exhibit, co-curated by June Sekiguchi and Lynann Politte, presents works from 20 Asian American Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander (AANHPI) artists that speak to identity, politics, or experience of how AANHPI artists view their place in predominantly white spaces.

You can take a 3D tour of the exhibit HERE.

And here’s a short reel of our opening night. Thanks to all who came out!! It feels wonderful to be back in spaces where we can gather, discuss, and celebrate the arts!

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Lost In Composition – interview

Activism, collaboration, creativity, family, Film, Narrative, Origin story, process, Story

I’m so grateful to art collector Paul Drinkwine for inviting me to partake in his project, Lost In Composition, “an art blog focusing on living artists and their works.” What a gift, to have this growing record of folks making art in our region at this moment in time.

Our conversation covered a 30 year span ~ starting with my activism, then moving through my work in film, photography, parenting, and finally visual art. What a rare treat to have this much time and space to reflect on my life and creative journey!

Paul created this dedicated page for our conversation which includes his reflections, images of work we discussed, and links to other artists mentioned in our conversation.

I look forward to seeing who he selects for future episodes…

Art as Resistance

Activism, Art For Sale, creativity, Narrative, process

Where Justice Meets Joy (2020)

I’ve been reflecting on the role of art in my life this past year. As a queer, mixed race, black-skinned daughter of immigrants ~ and as a mom with a daughter starting high school ~ carving out time to get into the studio each day is saving me and keeping me sane.

I started this painting on Valentine’s Day ~ in the Time Before. This piece saw me through the shutting down of life as we know it due to the global COVID pandemic. I learned that fire tornados and murder hornets are real things. I weathered cancelled openings and events, and missed graduations and family gatherings. As the world stood still, I bore witness to the brutal slayings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Michael Ramos, Dreasjon Reed, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Carlos Carson. And I found inspiration in the youth-led uprising that fueled the protests and demands for justice in the months that followed.

Out in the world, I was confronted with, and witnessed, oppressive hatred aimed at eradicating all that I embody and love. In my 20s, the energy of these encounters would have ignited the righteous anger that fueled my activism. Now that I’m just shy of 50, I find that anger, even when it’s righteous, is no longer a generative power source for me. Instead, it drains me, shuts me down and closes me off.

My focus this past year has been refusing to allow this groundswell of hatred, willful ignorance, and fear-mongering to diminish my humanity. Choosing to come from a place of beauty, compassion, accountability, generosity, resilience and joy is an act of radical love. I believe this gritty, robust, eyes-wide-open love is the root of liberation. My resistance meant daring to believe that the world through my eyes, as a queer Black woman, is relevant and beautiful and worthy of consideration.

Instead of absorbing the caustic energy, I poured my rage, fear and grief into this painting. After 8 months, the energy gave way to something new and surprising. And out of many layers of pain emerged a vision of a world where justice and joy coincide. The painting was offering me a vision of liberation that was deeply seeded in this radical kind of love.

So this year ~ and this painting ~ have taught me three things about the role of art in my life.

Art is my portal to Liberation.
Making art is how I convert energy into matter.
Art is no longer an ‘if I have time’ matter. It has become as integral to my well-being as my daily writing practice. It is a must. It helps me repair and restore the parts of my soul that are beyond the reach of words.

Art Fueling Activism

Activism, inspiration

This week, I decided to offer my art as a gift to my beloved BIPOC and queer friends who have been inspiring me with their leadership.

The words and actions of these educators, journalists, writers, organizers, health care workers and artists over the past few months has kept me going.

So I created an online room and invited them to browse through recent paintings. And if any piece caught their eye, it was theirs.

This is the first wave of paintings that will be hand-delivered (or shipped) to their new homes this weekend…🖤

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Art Sale for Food Lifeline

30in30paintingchallenge, Activism, Art For Sale, Fundraiser

Thanks to everyone for your enthusiastic response to my Birthday Art Fundraiser!! I’m delighted to share that, thanks to the art you purchased and the matching program through Tom’s work, I was able to donate $600 to the COVID19 Artist Trust Relief Fund!!

Fueled by the success of this sale, I am inspired to raise funds another organization where my daughter and I volunteer. Food Lifeline (member of Feeding America) supplies food to 300 shelters, food pantries, and community meal programs across Western Washington. They provide 134,000 meals daily with 96% of their expenses going towards feeding people facing hunger.

So for this fundraiser, I’m selling my SOLO series. They are original oil paintings on paper, matted in 11″x 14″ frames, as seen below.

– They are $125 apiece, or three for $300.

– $30 from each sale will be donated to Food Lifeline. $30 provides enough food to feed one family of four for 4 days.

*PLUS all donations will be matched through Tom’s work (Gilead Sciences), so your purchase will go twice as far!

– If you’re in the Seattle area, we can arrange a no-contact, in-person delivery. (Otherwise free shipping anywhere in the US).

What we get:

1) I get the joy of knowing my art is bringing color and joy to someone’s home.

2) You get an original painting to dress your walls, and the pleasure of knowing you’re supporting a living artist and a good cause. At the end of the sale, I will send you a letter confirming the donation that was made on your behalf.

3) By supporting Food Lifeline, we are helping to get food out to folks who need it most.

As far as I can tell, this is a WIN-WIN-WIN. So happy browsing! If you see a piece you like, you can click on the purchase link in its caption.

And if these paintings aren’t your cup of tea, you can still donate here: https://foodlifeline.org/donatefunds/

Thank you kindly!

SOLO #7
https://checkout.square.site/buy/2YOG3S55CB26444NZCQDCPBR

**SOLO #9**
https://checkout.square.site/buy/TP65L7O2PSPD7PWE4PEXJH4Z

Continue reading →

Birthday Art Fundraiser

Activism, Art For Sale, Fundraiser

Dearest friends,

As we round the corner to my birthday week, I’ve been thinking about ways to ease the suffering and share the joy. So I’m trying an experiment…a Birthday Art Fundraiser.

Here’s how it works:

– All the works below are original oil paintings on paper, matted and framed as seen in the first picture below.

– They are all selling for $225.

– $150 from each sale will be donated to the COVID 19 Artist Trust Relief Fund.

– This art sale will run through Friday, April 10 at 11:59pm.

– If you’re in the Seattle area, we can arrange a no contact, in person delivery. (Otherwise free shipping anywhere in the US.)

What we get:

1) I get the joy of knowing my art is living on and bringing joy (Best Birthday Gift Ever!!!)

2) You get an original piece of art to dress your walls, and that whole hearted feeling of knowing you’re supporting a living artist and a good cause.

3) Artists everywhere will feel the love through the emergency relief efforts of Artist Trust, an organization I hold in high regard.

So…what say ye?? Dress your walls! Celebrate my birthday with me!🎈

All the pieces are matted and in black frames as seen here, flanking the bigger piece 🙂

Continue reading →

My Life in 24 Frames – Press release

Activism, Exhibition, Narrative, Speaking, Story

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2018
Contact: Eliaichi Kimaro
Email: ekimaro@9elephants.org
Phone: 206.779.2653

MY LIFE IN 24 FRAMES

PopUp Exhibit & Artist Talk explores being a queer, mixed-race, Black-skinned daughter of immigrants in today’s America

Seattle, WA – Local artist, Eliaichi Kimaro will be presenting the latest paintings in her encaustic mixed media series, “My Life in 24 Frames” on Tuesday, October 23 from 6-7:30pm at Columbia City Gallery. At 6:30pm, there will be a brief talk where the artist will share the inspiration behind these paintings.

“My Life in 24 Frames examines what it means to be living in my skin, in my body, in this country, at this moment in time…”
~Eliaichi Kimaro

Eliaichi has lectured around the world, engaging audiences in conversations about how our experiences of gender, culture, and trauma shape our sense of identity and belonging. Eliaichi uses every media necessary to explore the stories she has inherited, and the stories she is passing down; and her creations invite us all to consider where we stand in the flow of cultural inheritance and legacy. Over the years, her lens has shifted — from her father’s Tanzanian/Chagga culture (in her 2011 film, A Lot Like You) to her mother’s Korean culture (in her 2017 multi-media installation, The Truth Has No Borders), and now to her own US culture with My Life in 24 Frames.

A Lot Like You won 6 Best Documentary Awards. The journey of her film culminated in her TEDxSeattle talk, Why The World Needs Your Story. Last year, Eliaichi was the Artist-in-Residence for COCA’s Storefronts [UN]Contained Residency, and in 2018, she was the recipient of the Artist Trust Fellowship, the CityArtist Grant through Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture, and a scholarship from the International Encaustic Association.

Eliaichi has served on numerous non-profit Boards, art grant panels, film festival juries, museum exhibition planning committees, and advisory committees. She is a member artist at Columbia City Gallery and the Center on Contemporary Art Gallery, and a juried member of the City of Seattle’s Ethnic Artist Roster.

“My Life in 24 Frames”
Columbia City Gallery
4864 Rainier Ave. S.,
Seattle, WA 98118
Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 6-7:30pm
6-7:30: Public exhibit of new paintings
6:30: Artist Talk

EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Eliaichi Kimaro (https://elikimaro.com/) is an award-winning filmmaker and artist who finds beauty in the rusty, weathered and worn. She loves the stories that scars hold ~ and feels compelled to take those stories of struggle, resistance, and survival, and turn them into something beautiful to behold.

This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the
2018 CityArtist Grant from Seattle’s Office of Arts & Culture.

# # #

SOLO Together

Activism

UPDATE: This shop was live for the month of October only, and is now offline.
The remaining SOLO pieces are available for sale
through Columbia City Gallery (Seattle).

. . . . .

Original SOLO paintings now available for purchase in my shop!

All paintings are oil & cold wax on 9″x 12″ Arches Oil Paper, and come with 11″x 14″ matte and backboard.

20% of proceeds go to the Coalition Ending Gender Based Violence
for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.