ARTS
The AfroIslander Art of Keao Lani
Young, talented & beautiful, they explore coping with racism through art.
■ INTERVIEW & PHOTOS BY DOMINICK HILDEBRAND
“…but it’s not a race card. It’s not a card we’re pulling because this is our reality. It’s weird that pointing out racism has to be dwindled down to the idiom of pulling a card. We’re experiencing racism everyday, and it’s real, and we’re shamed for it. They get to say we’re pulling a card when we’re just trying to live.”
A lot of us tend to believe that the dark ages of civil rights has passed. MXD discovers that today is still as dark especially in the eyes of young LGBTQ People of Color. Dominick Hildebrand engages in conversation with a fellow POC artist Keao Lani to explore coping with today’s racial tensions through art.
Tell us some basics about yourself. Well, my name is Keao Lani, I am 23 years old, and I am from Oahu, Hawaii. I identify as Black and Hawaiian and as non-binary.
What kind of kink you’re interested in? The kind of kink that I am really interested in is anything where I can fully use my body and that can look so many different ways, like service and community work to leather.
Are you a part of any kink organizations? Exiles, which is an educational group around BDSM for women and gender-variant folks, anyone who does not self-identify as male but is not limited to being genderqueer/genderfluid, somewhere in the middle. Our mission is to educate everyone on safety, how to do BDSM, how to participate in a way that is consensual because the basis of BDSM is consent.
What was your introduction to kink? My first introduction to kink was going to a play party and mentioning to someone I may be a masochist. I was new, I didn’t know anything if I was a masochist or not. Then they looked at me and asked are you a masochist because you want to relive your ancestors’ pain? I was so shocked and couldn’t believe someone would actually say that. I was offended, I was sad, I was scared but at the same time I was very proud that I could stand there and take the question.
When did sexuality begin for you? Growing up female and black and Hawaiian, and as you are when you’re 12, 6’ tall, 38 double Ds. I got a lot of attention from much older dudes and that was my introduction to sexuality and it wasn’t always based in consent. Finding out that there is a community based in consent blew my mind.
Has your exploration into BDSM help you find healing? There has been a huge amount of healing for me. There’s a saying in the community: Use it as a way to access healing but don’t use it as therapy.
We’ve seen your work and you definitely are an artist. What makes Keao an artist? In the same way of kink and BDSM for me, it’s really a process of healing and it is the reason why I do art.
What was it like growing up in Hawaii as a multiethnic person? On Oahu there are about a 1.5 million people and 2.3% of those people are black, most of which are military. My father was in the military, my mom is mixed Native Hawaiian, and I grew up knowing that I looked very black. I really wanted to look like my mom and cousins who looked mostly Hawaiian, Filipino, and Puerto Rican with the long flowy hair and it just wasn’t how I looked. I was treated as having to prove how Hawaiian I was every single day.
How did you cope with your upbringing? With a lot of drawing.
How does being a person of color play out in a bigger play space that is the Bay Area? Knowing exactly how I look and being uneasy with my footing in the world, coming from a school especially for Native Hawaiian youth, coming here knowing how Hawaiian I am and knowing how black I am and being OK with that and going into the intersection of kink on top of that? That’s a completely different story.
As an adult artist, where do you find your work growing toward? One of intersectionality and hope and just making sure that the folks who look like me and those who have similar stories to mine know that they will be alright because I needed people to tell me that I will be OK and I want to pass that off to others.
