EP 55 Special Edition: Professor of Art Jaimey Faris interviews co-host Melissa Chimera on the intersection of art and activism

Melissa Chimera, co-host of the Land and People podcast is a Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 visual artist whose work consists of research-based investigations into species extinction, globalization and human migration. In this interview, Melissa talks with Dr. Jaimey Faris, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory at UH Mānoa on how environmental justice can be expressed through “undisciplining” or pursuing the links between art, science and ethics of deep care. They talk about how her paintings (Inheritance: Maui Nui, Not Even the Fiercest Wind, Endless Blue: Mauna Kahalawai) address endangered species, the Maui fires and the transformative potential of Chimera’s public installation “Hulihonua: Transformed Landscapes”. The installation consists of 360 deer antlers, native vegetation and flowing water at Foster Botanical Garden. Their conversation contributes to the Hawai‘i Contemporary’s Hawai‘i Triennial 2025, an international exhibition whose theme of “Aloha Nō” encompasses artworks that express solidarity, interconnectedness, care and reciprocity between people and their land.