Dear Saumolia represents a personal journey of acceptance. These paintings showcase a queer, feminine, innocent young boy becoming an accepting, lovable understanding adult. That there is nothing wrong with embracing both the feminine and masculine sides of oneself. That I as a human being can finally believe that I am equally worthy of love just as any other member of my community, church or family. This collection invites visitors into a space of my heart and soul to visually capture the heartaches, triumphs, and feelings of accepting myself as a queer artist. For so long I hid my authentic self because of fear. I am grateful for this opportunity to be on full view and unabashedly me.
I hope you enjoy Dear Saumolia as it is about compassion and acceptance, pride, family, and pain. It is my wish that all visitors will have a small glimpse into the life of a Pacific Islander artist who was born queer, whose found acceptance in himself, and who has found the love inside of himself to be authentically and courageously Saumolia.
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