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Bernice A. Akamine
Person TypeIndividual
BiographyBernice Akamine, a Kānaka Maoli artist, was born in 1949 on the island of Oʻahu and is currently living in Volcano, Hawai‘i. Akamine received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in glass (1994) and Master of Fine Arts in glass and sculpture (1999) at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. During her MFA program, Akamine started to incorporate social activism into her art practice, as a result of her academic experience at the California College of the Arts in Oakland, California, as well as her personal experience with community activism. Her artwork, ranging from glass to kapa, preserves Native Hawaiian cultural customs, and illuminates the legacy of colonialism in Hawai‘i. Akamine has been exhibited in local and international institutions, such as the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawai‘i, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Australia. -Adriana Munoz, 2023