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Laura Kina headshot

Laura Kina

Painter

Laura Kina (shey/they) is a queer, disabled, mixed-race Uchinanchu artist-scholar whose artistic and scholarly projects address Asian American and Okinawan diasporic art. Her 2023 solo show "Over the Rainbow, One More Time" was about surviving breast cancer, coming out, and divorce during the pandemic. Kina has continued to make work about healing and building community. She is a Vincent de Paul Professor at The Art School at DePaul University. Kina was born in Riverside, CA (Cahuilla, Tongva, Luiseño, Serrano territory), grew up in Poulsbo, WA (Suquamish and Port Gamble S'Klallam territory), and is based in Chicago (traditional lands of the Three Fires Confederacy--Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Odawa nations as well as the Ho-Chunk, Myaamia, Menominee, Illinois Confederacy, and Peoria).

Kina received her BFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1994 and MFA Studio Art from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2001. Her artworks have been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries and museums including the Chicago Cultural Center, India Habitat Centre, India International Centre, Japanese American National Museum, Nehuru Art Centre, Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, Riverside Art Center, Rose Art Museum, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Spertus Museum, and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Her work is in private and public collections in the US and Japan including the Okinawa Prefectural Art Museum, the Smithsonian Archives of American Art, the Mingei International Museum, DePaul University, Northeastern Illinois University, and Heiwa Terrace.

Kina is an Art Matters Foundation Grantee, and through 3Arts– 3AMP Mentorship artist, a Make a Wave artist, Joan Mitchell Center Fellow, 3AP Project awardee, and Ragdale Fellow. Kina is a 2022-2023 Public Voices Op-Ed Project Fellow through DePaul University. Her illustrated children’s book Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos, written by Lee A. Tonouchi (Bess Press, 2019) was awarded a 2020 Skipping Stones Honor Award for Multicultural and International Books. In 2023, Kina was awarded The Illinois State Treasurer Frerich's LGBTQ+ History Month Award for Outstanding Achievements in Education.

Kina and Wei Ming Dariotis co-edited War Baby/Love Child: Mixed Race Asian American Art (University of Washington Press, 2013). Along Jan Christian Bernabe, Kina co-edited Queering Contemporary Asian American Art (University of Washington Press, 2017). She is a curator for the Virtual Asian American Art Museum; a co-founder of the Critical Mixed Studies conference, journal, and association; and a series editor for The University of Washington Press for the Critical Ethnic Studies and Visual Culture book series. Kina has co-edited special journal issues for the Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas and Verge: Studies in Global Asias. Kina and Jave Yoshimoto co-edited, illustrated, and curated Word of Mouth: Asian American Artists Sharing Recipes - a cookbook and 2023 special exhibition for the Virtual Asian American Art Museum. In 2025, the cookbook was expanded and published in print by the University of Arkansas Press. She is currently co-editing an anthology on Okinawan American arts and literature, writing a memoir, and painting the world around her.

 

Instagram: @laura.kina

BlueSky: ‪@laurakina.bsky.social‬

LinkedIn

Profile caption: Laura Kina Profile image by: Photo by Diana Solis
Laura Kina's Website
A figure lies in bed in a dark room looking at the sunset out of a high-rise window. Light is refracting through a globe sending rays of sun across the room. Laura Kina, Over the Rainbow, One More Time, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 36 x 48 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi

Featured Artworks

  • Laura Kina artwork Word of Mouth: Asian American Artists Sharing Recipes Laura Kina and Jave Yoshimoto, Word of Mouth: Asian American Artists Sharing Recipes (University of Arkansas Press, 2025) Cookbook cover featuring (on the left) Jave Yoshimoto's painting (ink, watercolor, and gouache, 9x12 in., 2021) of artist Erin O'Brien's "Pork by Buns XXXX" and (on the right) Laura Kina's 2023 9x12 in. watercolor painting of artist Francis Wong's "Szechen Spicy Alligator."
  • The artist's hands with Okinawan hajichi tattoos are held up against a kasuri patterned night sky as two F-35 jets are in the background. Hajichi (Kasuri and F-35s) Laura Kina, Hajichi (Kasuri and F-35s), 12x12 in., Oil on Panel, 2024 The artist's hands with Okinawan hajichi tattoos are held up against a kasuri patterned night sky as two F-35 jets fly by in the background.
  • Two figures are dancing in a night scene in Chicag's Back of the Yard's. Last Dance: Vieve and Tomomi at TRQPiTECA Laura Kina, Last Dance: Vieve and Tomomi at TRQPiTECA, Oil on canvas, 30x40 in., 2024 Joining queer social worlds helped me recover from cancer and divorce. This is a pride dance in Chicago at Back of the Yards.
  • Laura Kina artwork Camping Queers Laura Kina, Camping Queers, Oil on canvas, 40x30 in, 2024 Two tents at sunset in the woods in Wisconsin on a sapphic camping trip with a group of queers friends.
  • Laura Kina artwork Drift Laura Kina, Drift, Oil on canvas, 40x30 in., 2024 Drifting off to sleep, this Chicago high-rise night sky bedroom reflection captures the liminality between sickness and health.
  • A glass Isamu Noguchi coffee table with a wine glass and pile of books is in the foreground and a TV playing a Boy Love drama featuring a couple cuddling is in the background. BL Laura Kina, BL, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board, 18x24 in, 2024 A coffee table living room scene watching a BL (boy love) drama on TV while recovering from cancer and divorce.
  • The artist's legs and feet are visible in this candle lit bath tub scene. Bathtub Laura Kina, Bathtub, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas board, 18x24 in, 2024 A candle lit bath tub scene of the artist submerged in a bath tub.
  • A figure lies in bed in a dark room looking at the sunset out of a high-rise window. Light is refracting through a globe sending rays of sun across the room. Over the Rainbow, One More Time Laura Kina, Over the Rainbow, One More Time, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas, 36 x 48 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi The artist lies in bed in a dark room looking at the sunset out of a high-rise window. Light is refracting through a globe sending rays of sun across the room.
  • Laura Kina artwork Exam Room Laura Kina, Exam Room, Acrylic and charcoal on Legion Stonehenge paper mounted on birch panel, 30x 22 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi View of a hospital exam room while waiting to visit the oncologist.
  • Laura Kina artwork Sick Bed Laura Kina, Sick Bed, Acrylic and charcoal on Legion Stonehenge paper mounted on birch panel, 30x 22 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi The artist's sickbed view while recovering from a round of chemo.
  • Laura Kina artwork Chemo Bay Laura Kina,Chemo Bay, Acrylic and charcoal on Legion Stonehenge paper mounted on birch panel, 30x 22 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi Watching the sunset in a hospital chemo bay.
  • Laura Kina artwork ER Laura Kina, ER, Acrylic and charcoal on Legion Stonehenge paper mounted on birch panel, 30x 22 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi A traumatic ER visit is transformed into a full moon night sky.
  • This is a text-based painting. On the left side are hurtful words the artist experienced during her divorce and cancer journey. On the right side are the artist’s defiant responses. Cancer: Call and Response Laura Kina, Cancer: Call and Response, Acrylic and mixed media (tassel pastie, feathers, googly eyes, and rhinestones) on Legion Stonehenge paper, 104x 82 in. (12 panels 22x 30 in. each) 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi A text-based painting to process trauma. On the left side are hurtful words the artist experienced during her divorce and cancer journey. On the right side are the artist’s defiant responses.
  • Laura Kina artwork Homeostasis Laura Kina, Homeostasis, Mixed media installation, dimensions variable approx. 87 wide x 84 high, 16 in. deep, 2023 Photo by YoungSun Choi This installation features photographs, paintings, and artifacts from the artist’s journey through traumatic events related to her cancer, coming out, divorce, and losing her home.
  • Painting of the ceiling of a bathroom. Light is pouring in from a window. Collapse Laura Kina, Collapse, Acrylic and charcoal on canvas panel framed, 16x20 in., 2023 Photo by YoungSun Choi A painting of the artist's bathroom ceiling during a moment of crisis
  • Laura Kina artwork Golden Hour with Plants Laura Kina, Golden Hour With Plants, Acrylic on canvas panel, 20x16 in., 2022 Photo by YoungSun Choi Moving to a new home, house plants became a way for the artist to measure the passage of time and her health.
  • A 150-year-old banyan tree grows through the collapsed roof of a limestone cave. Sunlight filters in through the cave roof. A pile of stones from an ancient grave is featured in the right hand corner. Ufushu Gajumaru (giant banyan tree), Valley of Gangala, Okinawa, Japan Laura Kina, Ufushu Gajumaru (giant banyan tree), Valley of Gangala, Okinawa, Japan, Acrylic on canvas, 48×72 in., 2019 A 150-year-old banyan tree grows through the collapsed roof of a limestone cave. Sunlight filters in through the cave roof. A pile of stones from an ancient grave is featured in the right hand corner.
  • This is a view from inside of a limestone cave looking out into the sunlight. Gama Laura Kina, Gama, Acrylic on canvas, 48×72 in., 2019, This is a view from inside of a limestone cave in Okinawa looking out into the sunlight. Caves in Okinawa are both sacred and often WWII memorial sites.

Laura Kina has crowd-funded a project with 3AP

  • Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos

    by: Laura Kina
    • $7,268 raised of $4,000 goal
    • 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
      • 3Arts matched
      • 182% funded

    I am illustrating my first children’s book, Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos. This is a bilingual feminist fairy tale set in Hawai‘i and Okinawa that illuminates an ancient tradition and pushes back against white normative standards of beauty. …

    Read more about Okinawan Princess: Da Legend of Hajichi Tattoos