Home Artist Programs Supported Artists Abigail Kahilikia Romanchak

Abigail Kahilikia Romanchak

Waiohuli, Hawaiʻi

Ke Ano is a grid of prints forming four rows of abstract horizontal patterns, each row composed of six gradient blocks transitioning from light to dark shades.

Ke Ano

2023

Kani Le'a is a grid of prints arranged in a large rectangle composed of gray and white spectrograms mapping the unique calls of endangered and extant Hawaiian forest birds. The prints are arranged from light to dark, graduating down to blackness.

Kani Le'a

2019

Kahea is a grid of prints arranged in a panorama composed of endemic and native Hawaiian bird spectrograms- three-dimensional visualizations of sounds measuring time, frequency and pitch.

Kahea

2019

He ho'ike no ke ola is a close-up of a textured surface with concentric small circular patterns, showing the microscopic structure of diatoms.

He ho'ike no ke ola

2013

Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.

About Abigail Kahilikia Romanchak

Abigail Romanchak kneels on a table, working on a large abstract drawing with dark lines and shapes, in a room with art supplies and an etching press in the background. She is a Hawaiian multi-racial woman with medium skin tone and dark long hair, and wears black clothing under a striped apron.

Abigail Romanchak’s work shows nationally and internationally. Her work belongs to many public and private collections, including The Australia National Museum, The White House, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Hawaii State Art Museum, Jon Hara Associates, Inc. Architects and The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii. Abigail received the Ellen Craig Choy Award, as most outstanding artist, in the 2010 Biennial IX at The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. In 2015, Abigail was awarded the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation fellowship. This fellowship made it possible for Abigail to produce a new body of work for a group exhibition, 'Aloha 'Aina', at The Lower Saxony State Museum, Hanover, Germany; Galerie Rash, Kassel, Germany; and Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Germany. In 2024, Abigail exhibited a new body of work at Gallery Ether in Tokyo. Abigail Romanchak holds a BFA and MFA in printmaking from the University of Hawaii, Manoa.

Program Participation

Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2024

Website / Social Links

“ My work reveals an essential alignment between multiple systems of marking and is greatly influenced by the conceptual terrain human imprint on the natural environment. Some examples include the tracks conservationists leave in pristine native forest, disappearing silence, and native birdsongs.”