Artist Biography
Taiji Terasaki is a Japanese-American artist based in Honolulu, Hawaii. Growing up in a family of scientists and creatives, with a formal arts education, Terasaki has spent years exploring avant-garde innovations in his craft, working in photography, sculpture, immersive and large-scale installations, and pioneering mediums like mist projections as canvas. His cutting-edge presentations are often juxtaposed by the subjects of cultural and environmental conservation, preservation, and restoration.
Terasaki made his public debut in 2017 with REBIRTH at Honolulu’s Ward Center, and Edible Landscapes for the Trillenium in conjunction with “Contact 3017: Hawaiʻi in 1,000 Years” at Honolulu Museum of Art. That same year, his first solo exhibition, Feeding the Immortals, premiered at the Ravizza Brownfield Gallery. Stemming from Terasaki’s search for ritual and meaning in death following the passing of his father, the exhibit was comprised of mixed media works with ceramic, photography, vapor projections, video, and ceremonial performance—all honoring and paying tribute to those beloved who have passed on.
Since then, Terasaki has invested his considerable energy into large-scale and civic art projects. He had shown in Hawaiʻi, throughout the continental US, and internationally–most notably at the Curitiba Biennial in 2017 for his work, Between Two Cultures. Terasaki’s most recent project, TRANSCENDIENTS: Immigrant Stories of Place, poetically holds space for the immigrant populations that comprise America, celebrating their contributions through technology-based storytelling, contemporary portraiture, and immersive experiences.
Driven to advance Honolulu’s arts community, Terasaki served on the board of directors for the Honolulu Museum of Art for many years and currently serves on the board of directors for the Honolulu Biennial Foundation. He is Board President of the Taiji and Naoko Terasaki Family Foundation, as a board member for the LA-based Terasaki Family Foundation, and as Board President of Art Explorium, a beloved nonprofit arts foundation for children that he co-founded with his wife Naoko and family friends Nate and Heather Smith. Terasaki most recently founded Make Visible, a 501c3 non-profit whose mission is to create and sponsor innovative platforms for artists to further their practice and gain greater visibility.
Terasaki studied in the MFA programs at both Hunter College in New York and Cal State Long Beach, and holds a BFA from UC Irvine. He currently resides in Honolulu with his wife and two children.
