Born on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, Nikila is a self-taught multimedia artist, designer, performer, and educator inspired by an earth-based wisdom of Roots and Culture. Mother and community organizer, her work as an advocate for youth, indigenous, and environmental rights has played an influential role within shaping her foundation as a “Cultural Community Artist”. Coming from Pacific Islander, First Nations, and European lineages, to the raw street smarts of the Bay Area’s inner cities, it has been the cultural richness, as well as the systemic issues of her background, that have led Nikila to explore the arts as a foundation for educational reform and decolonization. In turn, she has helped develop youth arts curriculum and programs for a number of organizations. As a painter and muralist, her art weaves underlying stories, traditions, and elements of the sacred indigenous with modern influences of the urban underground, and is guided by a maternal connection to the natural wisdom of the Earth; Thus birthing the art alias “MamaWisdom”.

Workshop:

Decolonizing Through Cultural Community Arts 

In a world controlled by a dominant system that does not cater to the wellbeing of society and the planet as a whole, how can we, as individuals, begin to change this narrative in an active way?

In this class, we will explore the building blocks of Culture, Community, and the Arts rooted in Indigenous wisdom and decolonization as a means of rewriting the program. We will talk about the role of decolonization as a path of healing, beginning from the ground up, with our connection to the Earth traditionally and scientifically. The path of the Cultural Community Artist is a way of life, with art as the tool, culture as our lens, and values of respect, regeneration, reconciliation, and reciprocity as the foundation for community healing.