Kyler Pahang is a Filipino artist based on Duwamish Land. His art is focused on empowering, decolonizing, and celebrating cultures. He wants to reconnect back to his roots and does so by researching precolonial traditions and creating artworks based upon said research. Pahang is encouraging others in doing the same by depicting aspects of his cultures others are not familiar with. 

His body of work exhibits large mixed media paintings that depict the colonized in the same position as their colonizers in order to expand others' views on overly exploited countries.

Pahang has a BA with Honors from the University of Washington. He is a Mary Gates Scholar and received the Hubs Directory award from his department. "Each year, a committee from the Husky Union Building (HUB) attends the BA and MA graduation exhibitions put on by the School of Arts. The committee then deliberates and selects a graduating student to receive the Director's Award, which means that one or more works by that student are purchased for the Hub Permanent Art Collection." -University of Washington

Website: kylerpahang.com
Instagram: @kylerpahang_art

Artwork by Kyler Pahang

Gage Academy of Art acknowledges the Coast Salish Peoples as the original inhabitants of this area and connecting waterways. We understand the land that Gage occupies is unceded territory and that today many Indigenous peoples live here and without their stewardship, we would not have access to this space. We honor the Coast Salish Peoples’ sovereignty, rights to self-determination, culture and ways of life. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have called this territory their sacred land. We commit to learning, educating others and repairing the legacy of historically harmful relationships between non-Native and Native peoples in King County. In doing so, we will be honest, and recognize the experiences of Native peoples to include genocide, forced relocation, forced assimilation, and land theft. We also acknowledge Native peoples are survivors, present in today’s world, thriving. We encourage everyone here today to ask themselves: what can I do to support Indigenous communities?

In an effort to be transparent, Gage is contemplating this call to action and re-working how to best support Indigenous communities.

click here to chat