Laura Kina

Residency awarded through partnership with 3Arts

Laura Kina’s artwork focuses on themes of distance, belonging, the fluidity of cultural difference, and the slipperiness of identity. Okinawan and Hawai‘i diaspora and mixed race representations are subjects that run through her work, founded on autobiographical impulses while drawing inspiration from popular culture, textile design, personal and community photographic archives, and oral history interviews.

Kina has exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries and museums including the Chicago Cultural Center, India Habitat Centre, India International Centre, Nehuru Art Centre, Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Rose Art Museum, Spertus Museum, Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, and the Japanese American National Museum. Solo exhibitions include shows at Kwan Fong Gallery of Art and Culture, Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, University of Memphis Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art, Woman Made Gallery, Gene Siskel Film Center, and Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts.

Kina is a Vincent de Paul Professor of Art, Media, & Design and Director of Critical Ethnic Studies at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. She received an MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is co-editor of War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art and Queering Contemporary Asian American Art; cofounder of the Critical Mixed Studies conference, journal, and association; reviews editor for Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas; events reviews editor for American Quarterly; and editorial board member of Amerasia Journal (UCLA).