After being raised, in part, in Hawaii it’s no wonder that the new professor of History of Art and Visual Culture (HAVC), Nicole Kuʻuleinapuananiolikoʻawapuhimelemeleolani Furtado loves oceanic studies and incorporates it into her work. Her work combines reimaginings of indigenous Hawaiian futures, often through science fiction with her passion for oceanic studies. “University of California, Santa Cruz has a long history of oceanic studies, so a lot of the folks who I was reading for my dissertation work had come through UCSC,” says Furtado.
“Born on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, Furtado loves to hit the beach, hike and explore nature. She then moved with her immediate and extended family to Las Vegas for 10 years, due to economic challenges in Hawaii. After that decade, Furtado’s direct family moved back to Hawaii, although her extended family split, some staying in Las Vegas and some moving back.”
When she returned to Hawaii, Furtado attended Kamehameha Schools, a private school system open to indigenous Hawaiians that integrates studies about Hawaiian culture. “I always took classes in Hawaiian culture,” says Furtado, “but when I got to college, I really wanted to learn more about Hawaiian history.”
After receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, she went on to receive both her Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from UC Riverside. All her degrees are in English, which is where she found a love of scifi and exploring alternate futures through fiction. “My department at UC Riverside took a very broad definition on what literature can mean,” says Furtado. “I started exploring VR projects, AI, graphic novels and things like that. All of a sudden, all my research was starting to move away from novels into visual art and embodiment.”
Once she received her Ph.D. in June of 2023 Furtado was awarded the University of California President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship which brought her to UC Santa Cruz. “My mentor, Stacey Kamehiro, she’s one of the few professors in the UC system who also does work based out of Hawaii, and so it was kind of like the perfect timing,” says Furtado.
Now Furtado is ready to be back in the classroom. “It’s been a while since I worked with students,” she says. “While it makes me nervous to be back in the classroom with them, I’m excited to work with students again.” But Furtado is most excited for all the art she is about to have access to. “Going to art exhibitions is one of my favorite things to do. I’m so happy to be in a discipline where going to art exhibits around the world is what we do.”
Working in HAVC gives Furtado plenty of opportunities to explore more art and deepen her research. “I appreciate Santa Cruz so much, because they believed in my research. As niche as it is, they believed in it from the beginning.”