Entwined in the Members’ Gallery, 2023.

Hana Hamaguchi is a second generation Japanese artist born in Banff and currently based in the Okanagan. She completed her BFA at UBCO in 2022, with a focus on printmaking and painting. Hana is interested in themes of maliciousness hidden in the mundane. Her work often takes her throughout her own personal journey, navigating her childhood within a family that never grew up within Canada.

Entwined is a mural highlighting her experience with her hair while growing up within such a household. Growing up Hamaguchi was often mocked for her hair, it was always too messy, dry or frizzy. She had a nickname at home which translated to “messy head” but she internalized that it was purely a language and cultural difference at home to call her by that nickname. It took a long time for Hamaguchi to realize that being mocked for her hair was not fair nor was it justifiable within the means of differing cultures and languages. She grew up around peers that had a different hair texture than she did, and she did not have the support at home to navigate her thick Asian hair. This experience is an extremely isolating one, as it is very difficult to have someone understand both the nuances of her language and culture within the same context of being second generation to first generation parents.

Hamaguchi’s mural piece Entwined will be on view in the Members Gallery from September 8 to 30, 2023.

Entwined in the Members’ Gallery, 2023.