be nice + kind to yourself | Mai Ide

HAHAHA; Language barrier
2024
Obi, Sashiko threads
12’x2”x10’

Curated by Naomi Nguyen

Exhibition: November 7th, 2024 - January 20th, 2025

Opening Reception: November 7th, 2024 from 3:00pm-5:00pm

Curatorial Statement by Naomi Nguyen

be nice + kind to yourself gathers works that investigate the fragile balance between vulnerability and courage. While encouraging introspection, both in personal and collective contexts, Mai Ide explores how we maneuver around identity, cultural intersectionality, and societal expectations. This exhibition focuses on the transformational power of self-compassion, belonging, and the power of language under oppressive systems.

Ide’s use of obi fabric symbolizes the resilience needed to navigate societal structures shaped by violence and volatility. By turning the fabric inside-out to reveal its hidden side, she highlights themes of visibility, self-expression, and vulnerability. In this context, kindness becomes a radical act of resistance and healing. The exhibition invites viewers to consider how we care for ourselves, nurture vulnerability, and use art as a catalyst for empathy, connection, and transformation.

Mai Ide's multidisciplinary practice reflects her experiences as a Japanese-American immigrant, mother, and woman. Her work speaks against the pervasive "otherness" under the circumstances of living in the U.S. By deconstructing and reassembling materials with acute attention to detail (often upcycled fabrics and traditional Japanese techniques such as sashiko stitching) Ide produces objects that convey both fragility and strength. These works represent a continuous conversation about the ways in which the human spirit can regain power and identity from a world seemingly insistent on erasure and marginalization. The pieces in this exhibition ask us, instead, to contemplate the use of kindness (to ourselves and others) when met with barriers, be they linguistic, cultural, or social.

Pictured below: Our opening ceremony featuring a live ikebana performance and music, Sashiko workshop promo

about mai ide

Mai Ide is a Japanese-American artist from Tokyo, now based in Portland, OR. Their multidisciplinary approach investigates their own cultural intersectionality and deep ambivalence as an immigrant, mother, and woman. As a non-native speaker of English, Ide’s practice is expressing discomfort of being classified or perceived by society as an “other” or “forever foreigner” in the U.S. Ide holds a BFA in Art Practice from Portland State University (OR) as well as degrees in sewing, pattern making, and textile design in Japan, where she worked for 12 years as a material designer. Her previous exhibitions and performances include the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum, Museum of Kyoto in Japan, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum in Oregon. Ide is a current MFA candidate in Visual Studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.

Be sure to keep up with the artist via their Instagram to see what Ide’s up to!