Artists' Statement:
In the summer of 2023, a collective of nine locally-based photographers set out to capture images exploring the idea of liminality in various locations throughout the state of Hawaii. The inspiration behind the project developed from the 2019 internet trend and aesthetic of liminal spaces (primarily man-made areas of transition between two areas. There is an aspect of universality in images of liminal spaces, perhaps speaking to the deeply complicated relationships between people and the built environment, or between nostalgia and the present. Given the photographs' common subject matter, these feelings can be unanimously interpreted across boundaries of place or time.
The location and history of the spaces in Hawaii are inherently unique from the overwhelmingly continental consensus of the internet. With this in mind, this collective of local photographers decided to explore these spaces with the intent to discover additional feelings of universality, distinction, sociopolitical changes, and personal nostalgia across 18 prints and a VHS tape slideshow in this exhibit. We present Local and Liminal: An Exploration of Liminal Spaces in Hawaii.