Gracie Cipriano

                                      

BIOGRAPHY

Gracie Cipriano is a Digital Imaging Artist based in Honolulu, Hawaii, whose work explores the complexities of identity and femininity. She is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Digital Imaging and her BA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Cipriano’s work explores themes of trauma, healing, empowerment, authenticity, and sexuality. Through her artistic practice, she uses her own image to confront the entanglements of identity and reclaim vulnerability. As a way to create safe and powerful spaces for reflection, transfiguration, and resistance. Her art also involves and honors significant figures in her life, whose presence continues to form her individuality and state of mind.

Artist Statement


My work as a digital imaging artist and student double-majoring in Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGSS) is an intimate and powerful exploration of identity and female experience. At the core of my work lies a deep passion for the themes of healing, trauma, authenticity, empowerment, and sexuality. Self-portraiture lies at the heart of my work. Through digital manipulation and visual storytelling, I reconstruct my own image, layering memory, emotion, and symbolism to reclaim my agency over my narrative, body, and emotional terrain. Within my practice, I draw from the joyous and painful aspects of my lived experience, allowing me to confront past wounds and parts of myself shaped by resilience and memory. While also celebrating the complexities of my becoming. Beyond my own image, my practice extends to honoring the memorable individuals and relationships that have shaped my growth, such as my mother, my dogs, and my friends.


  Creating works of significant people in my life helps to recognize that identity is not constructed in isolation. But, built through the acts of love, kinship, care, and connection.
    My academic foundation in WGSS enriches my visual practice, allowing me to engage crucially with the social construction of gender and LGBTQ+ identities and issues. My main goal is to create a coherent and thought-provoking artwork that unapologetically challenges traditional portrayals of the female form, identity, vulnerability, and the transformative power of connection. Through art and inquiry, I’m particularly interested in how our deepest vulnerabilities can become catalysts for personal empowerment and collective transformation. Additionally, I seek to reclaim agency over how stories of women are portrayed and remembered, creating a space for multidimensional narratives to emerge.


CV


Gracie Lelemaionalaniokuuipo Cipriano
1459 Pele St APT 211 Honolulu, HI 96813  (808)308-4164 gracie.cipriano16@gmail.com

Education
2023 - BFA in Art Studio, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (Expected Graduation: Pending)
2025 - BA in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI
2023 - Associate in Liberal Arts, Windward Community College, Kaneohe, HI 2021   High school diploma,  Kalaheo High School, Kailua, HI


Work Experience
May 2025 to July 2025 Honolulu Community Action Program, Kalihi-Palama, HI - LIHEAP (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program) Temporary Intake Aid
November 2023 to September 2024 University of Hawaii at Manoa Art Gallery, Mānoa-Honolulu, HI  - Art Gallery Attendant  
August 2022 to June 2023 Panda Express, Kaneohe, HI - Counter Help


Grants/Awards

March 2018 Kalaheo High School Assembly,  Mustang Pride Award


October 2018  Honor Roll


October 2019 Mustang Pride Award


February 2020 Honor Roll


May 2021  Cum Laude Award

©MMXXI Los Angeles, Calif.
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