Dane Nakama is a Japanese-Uchinanchu artist from and currently based on O‘ahu Hawaiʻi. They are a recent graduate of the California Institute of the Arts, and have had their work exhibited in California, Miami, and Tokyo. Being raised in a large multi-ethnic “local mix” family, Nakama grew up understanding both themself and their art through the intersections and relationships of identities across personal, cultural, and now digital realms - learning that through hybridity comes community. Their practice emphasizes the act of making beyond physical objects within space, but creating objects that creates space. 

To Nakama their artworks are like imaginary friends, an extension of their family, with most of them being marked with two dots or holes for eyes. Initially inspired by the haniwa figures of Japan, two dots have the ability to anthropomorphize anything. This can apply as a metaphor for art making: just as a conversation involves at least two people, an artwork lives through its relationship with a viewer. We perceive existence through relationships, a philosophy that often guides Nakama’s art practice.