We’re getting excited for our fourth year of our 8×8 exhibition! 8×8: Source opens January 13, 2024! In the meantime, here’s some amazing ways past 8×8 artists have drawn inspiration from Shangri La’s Ottoman gallery to create work in response to this vibrant space.

The upward spiraling surface of this ceramic water storage jar represents the arid lands of where Islam was founded and the ever-changing blue ocean fronting Shangri La and around the State of Hawai‘i that the Hawaiians and our ancestors crossed to come from afar.  The spiral provides the upward bias of the continuum.  The water storage jar relates to the importance of water in the birth of Islam, in the ritual of purification with water before entering a mosque (ablution), to the water feature in the Ottoman Gallery, and provokes thoughts of how precious water is here in Hawai‘i and throughout the world.

As a Kanaka ʻŌiwi artist, Inalihi weaves the beauty and struggle of being Hawaiian in Hawaiʻi. Throughout their performance, Inalihi is found in the Ottoman Gallery at Shangri La, created from architectural elements of a qa’a, or reception hall, of a Damascus home. More than an area to receive guests, this place undoubtedly transformed the lives of those who interacted with its tranquility, beauty, and grounding presence. Being heavily influenced by the multiple dimensions of the Ottoman gallery,  Inalihi explores how we can use qaʻa, ‘ataba, and tazar to reflect on different aspects of our identity. In ourselves as well as this room are thresholds, we must pass through to hāpai (carry) new meanings, responsibilities, and connections to oneself, ʻāina, and each other.

Read Ualani Daivs’ full artist statement here.

Read Moses Goods’ full artist statement here. 

For more information on past 8×8 exhibitions check out the links below!

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