Shaped by Place: Nature, Nurture and Becoming

A multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring work by Norwegian painter May Hege Kristoffersen, Tahitian painter Malissa Mataaiai Itchner, and Southern California artist Robin Temaiana Repp. About Is it our culture we are born into or is it the culture we are accepted into? They say home is where the heart is, meaning where we find acceptance, love and understanding. Perhaps that is where we find our sense of belonging as well as identity, grounded, connected with the land, the language and the people. May Hege Kristoffersen, a Norwegian painter, is at the opposite end of the Earth from Malissa Mataaiai Itchner, a Tahitian painter. But they share a connection to Robin Temaiana Repp, a Southern California multi-discipline artist, while showing us we all have more in common than what separates us. Mataaiai lives on the remote island of Huahine, about 100 miles north of Tahiti, where she incorporates ancient cultural symbols and icons in her colorful, abstract interpretations of the island which is a major archeological site. May lives in rural Norway, working intuitively to process her thoughts and feelings from her experiences everyday using art therapy with mentally ill patients where words are not adequate to express emotions. Robin lived on Huahine in 1975 and has returned there over the years, more than 60 times to photograph, paint and film while immersing herself into the language and customs. Although her father was Norwegian, she did not learn much about his roots and traditions until finally visiting her cousin, May, in Norway in 2024. Repp's Huahine Portraits, taken at a time most island locals did not have electricity, telephones or a camera, will be shown alongside of portraits taken again in 2025 of the same subjects. The emotional experience of searching, finding and reuniting for the new portrait was unforgettable. Repp's woodcuts, infrared photography, an animation and a video are included in the exhibition. Nanihi Rivera, a Tahitian-American student from Orange County School for the Arts and Marilyn Senka Drageset, from Sogetsu Ikebana will be special guest artists in this exhibition. Tupua Tahitian Dancers, drummers, and Musicians live at the opening. This exhibition is funded in part by the City of Santa Ana and Air Moana.