Bishop Museum presents its Kapaemahu Speaker Series | From Entertainment to Visibility and Respect: An Evening with Legends of The Glade Era and Contemporary Counterparts

Friday, Oct. 14, 2022
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Atherton Hālau & Livestreamed via Zoom
*Included in Museum After Hours Admission or free to attend via zoom

Click here for more event info.

This program is part of a five-part speaker series that harnesses community discourse around The Healer of Stones of Kapaemahu exhibition on view in Bishop Museum’s Castle Memorial Building through Oct. 16, 2022. By bringing together cultural practitioners, scholars, artists, and community organizers, the program aims to cultivate deeper understanding of the exhibition’s central themes of gender diversity, Native Hawaiian health, and the power of monuments. These talks will take place in person at Bishop Museum’s Atherton Hālau and will be streamed live for virtual participation via zoom.

Entertainment offers one of the few avenues for gender-fluid individuals to gain employment, as well as a way to earn respect and disarm critics through humor and showmanship. This panel features legendary performer Brandy Lee and hair and make-up artist Aunty Harmony, who will talk about the joys, trials, and tribulations of performing at the Glade nightclub during a period of intense discrimination in Hawaiʻi; Fatima Reynolds, winner of the longest-lasting gender diverse pageant in Tonga; and contemporary performer and community advocate Sami Akuna, aka Coco Chandelier.

Speakers include:

• Brandy Lee, Glade and international entertainer

• Aunty Harmony, makeup and hair artist and mahu icon

• Fatima Reynolds, entertainer and fashion designer