FRONTLINE: A Ten-Year Retrospective of Ryan Hawaii
Fusion Arts is proud to present FRONTLINE, a landmark exhibition showcasing the first early-career retrospective of London-based interdisciplinary artist Ryan Hawaii. Spanning over a decade of artistic evolution, the exhibition brings together work across textiles, fashion, music, sketchbooks, and painting to highlight Hawaii’s visionary approach to contemporary creativity and culture.
Curated by Ruby A Duncan, in collaboration with spatial designer Stanley Leung, FRONTLINE invites visitors to explore the ever-expanding universe of Hawaii’s work. Known for fusing Afro-Cuban, Jamaican, and British influences, Ryan Hawaii has built a body of work that refuses to be confined by medium or genre. His art is both deeply personal and widely resonant, navigating themes of spirituality, modernity, identity, and place.
“Lines cross sculpture, sketchbooks, paintings and textile successes. His work acts as a testament to the ability of the artist to influence, record and process the world around him. Hawaii steps beyond lines as confines and finds ways to construct new explorations of modern life, spirituality, culture and borders. To him the line is not a limiting facet but a chance to construct connections between fashion, innovation, music and art. To find harmony in his Jamaican, British and Afro-Cuban history through stepping across their dividing lines.”- Ruby A Duncan
“Frontline’ refers to a centre point for congregating in a city zone; each of London’s neighbourhoods claims one, often the site of gang activities. Hawaii’s Catford frontline – outside the Broadway Theatre – has witnessed much drama and tragedy forged by the urban environment. This exhibition brings recollections of this frontline to Oxford in an attempt to further cross the lines and boundaries set on the cultures that permeate throughout Ryan Hawaii’s works.” Ruby says
The exhibition highlights Hawaii’s influence on the British and European art scenes, offering rare insight into how one artist’s multidisciplinary practice can document, process, and reimagine the world. In Hawaii’s hands, the line becomes not a boundary but a bridge—linking art, music, identity, and lived experience. FRONTLINE marks Ruby A Duncan’s second curatorial project at Fusion Arts, reinforcing her commitment to creating spaces where new relationships between audiences and artworks can emerge.
The exhibition opens to the public at Fusion Arts on 14 June. Entry is free.
For press enquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: feng@fusion-arts.org
