Coming next month to the Downtown Art Center in Honolulu is an exhibit called “Marginalized : Portraits in Identity and Sign.”
The collection of artworks features 14 busts representing diverse figures, including U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Oman and LGBTQ+ activist Marsha P. Johnson.
“It’s normal to be abnormal,” said Hawaiʻi Island-based sculptor Amber Aguirre.
She said the artworks seek to redefine heroism by celebrating people marginalized by disability, relationship, sexual orientation or race.
“I want to reclaim the historic, sculptural form of the bust, and honor individuals whose lives have been shaped by exclusion rather than inclusion,” Aguirre said. “Because they differ from the social and cultural norms that have historically held power and privilege.”
The exhibits' themes of identity and social commentary are deeply rooted in Aguirre’s background. She’s the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, and she underwent a leg amputation following a cartographic injury.
The 67-year-old’s upbringing shaped her desire to use art as a tool for social and political commentary.
“I was just constantly aware of my difference being Jewish and being the child of a survivor, and also the child of an immigrant, first-generation American, and it's shaped everything I do,” Aguirre said. And it's been drummed into me since I was a little kid that you have to do your part, and you have to make the world a better place, or these things happen again.”
The ASL portion of the artwork was inspired by her friend who is deaf.
Aguirre said it's important that her work includes people who are not as well-known as public figures. ASL was woven into her pieces as a statement. For example, Omar is signing "Muslim," and a sculpture of Aguirre is signing the letter “D” for disabled.
She hopes the art will give people an idea of what the signs are before they read the biographies of each piece.
“It will also create, I hope, a curiosity about it, where they'll see a sculpture with a sign, and they won't know what it is, so they will delve deeper and look harder,” she said. “Through reading the biographies and learning what each of these signs means, it will expand their knowledge and their empathy and tolerance.”
Aguirre says the exhibit isn’t about depicting people as victims of marginalization. It’s about resiliency.
“I'm trying to focus on the strength of these people and how, if anything, because of their marginalization, they have had to work harder and grow more as a human in their character and resilience and insight because they have had to always fight for their place in society,” she said.
The exhibit will be on view from Sept. 2 to 26.
