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Framing history: Windward CC’s Kapulani Landgraf named Guggenheim Fellow

Photo of Kapulani Landgraf taken by Alex Singer.

Artwork by Kapulani Landgraf entitled, "Ho‘okuleana." Photo by Kapulani Landgraf.

Artwork by Kapulani Landgraf entitled, "Ho‘oheihei." Photo provided by University of Cambridge, U.K.

Windward Community College Professor of Art and Gallery ʻIolani Director Kapulani Landgraf has been named a 2026 Guggenheim Fellow. Landgraf is one of just 223 distinguished individuals selected from a highly competitive pool of nearly 5,000 applicants for this honor.

The fellowship will support Landgraf’s project, What Was Taken, What Remains, a body of work confronting colonial histories and reasserting Hawaiian visual sovereignty. Through archival research, photographic interventions, collage and the integration of ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) and moʻolelo (stories), the project reframes dominant narratives to restore voices to histories long obscured.

ʻOn our own terms’

“My work has always been about accountability—of images, of histories, and of the ways they are constructed and carried forward,” Landgraf said. “This fellowship supports the continuation of that work, but it also underscores its urgency. What has been taken cannot remain unexamined, and what remains must be made visible on our own terms.”

Widely recognized for her multimedia installations and photography exploring ʻāina (land) and the impacts of colonialism, Landgraf positions the camera as both a witness and an intervention. At Windward CC, she has transformed Gallery ʻIolani into a space centered on Hawaiʻi-based artists and cultural continuity. She is also the author of multiple monographs, including Nā Wahi Pana O Koʻolau Poko and Nā Wahi Kapu O Maui, which extend her explorations of ʻāina, moʻokūʻauhau (genealogy), and resistance.

Established in 1925, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation provides monetary stipends allowing scholars and artists to pursue independent work under “the freest possible conditions.” The Foundation has granted nearly $450 million to more than 19,000 Fellows, an elite group that includes Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners and cultural icons.

NOTE: Please credit all photos

Photo of Kapulani Landgraf taken by Alex Singer.

Artwork by Kapulani Landgraf entitled, "Ho‘okuleana." Photo by Kapulani Landgraf.

Artwork by Kapulani Landraf entitled, "Ho‘oheihei." Photo provided by University of Cambridge, U.K.