“There’s something really special about the darkroom,” said Kapiʻolani Community College English literature major Geneva Mellison. “No phones, no distractions. It creates this intimate environment where students can connect, create and encourage each other.”
Mellison’s photography was featured in the Kapiʻolani CC Student Show 2026. The exhibition, held from April 29 to May 8 at the , showcased works from introductory and intermediate studio art and new media art students. It emphasized students’ commitment to material processes and contemporary artistic exploration across mediums such as ceramics, drawing, painting, photography and sculpture.
Her exhibition piece, My Perfect Mask, 2025, was a series of gelatin silver prints created in a photography course. It explored “masking,” or the suppression of one’s true personality to conform to social expectations. Her passion for the medium started young.
“Photography is the love of my life,” Mellison said. “I was gifted a camera when I was seven, and I carry one around with me wherever I go. These projects have been on my mind constantly, and I think the flow of creativity happened in my life, too. I just walk around and think, ‘Oh, that would make a great picture.’”
Exhibition experience
Koa Gallery Director Brandon Ng said the show provided vital experience, inviting students to get a taste for what it is like to exhibit their work in a gallery.
Ng said, “The result was a showcase of work that emphasized the students’ commitment to learning their craft, while catalyzing art as a vital tool for them to engage with the world.”
He hopes to continue expanding opportunities for artists through the Koa Gallery, while creating exhibitions that invite deeper community engagement and creative exploration across disciplines.
“We want the gallery to be a place that inspires students and visitors to view art as a lifelong companion,” Ng said. “This exhibition served as a meaningful touchstone for art and education and one that will build on Koa Gallery’s goal of being a critical space for art that enriches and complicates the essential conversations central to Hawaiʻi and its people.”