Adrienne Pao

Photographer Adrienne Pao is interested in the confluence of fantasy and identity, and how this is visualized through photographic imagery and immersive installations. Her Hawaiian Family Portraits photographic series explores how the vision of Hawai’i is revealed within a contemporary Hawaiian person. Hawaiian Cover-ups are a collection of self-portraits exploring her own identity and relationship to Hawaiian iconography and personal family storytelling. Her provocative collection of Dress Tents (which include installations and large-scale photographs), a long-term collaboration with artist Robin Lasser, examine female stereotypes through wearable shelters photographed within socially significant landscapes.

Pao’s work has appeared in campaigns worldwide, fashion and pop culture magazines, as well as art journals around the world. Her photographs and installations have been shown nationally and internationally. A few highlights include: the Smithsonian APAC Culture Lab, Honolulu Biennial Prologue Exhibition, Museum of African Diaspora (San Francisco); Recoleta Cultural Center (Buenos Aires); Caixa Cultural (Rio de Janeiro); Metenkhov House Photo Museum (Yekaterinburg, Russia), and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific Experience (Seattle).

Pao works in creative production in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

Programs:

• Marcus Exhibition The Art and Architecture of Maybe (2026)
• P L A C E: Reckonings by Asian American Artists (2024)