Aunia Kahn

Heritage as Survival

20 years in the art world teaches you numerous things. 🧐 The two that changed everything for me: your roots 🍃 are yours whether you claim them or not, and your artistic 🎨 voice is a living document.

For most of my career, traditional materials could have killed me. 💀 Digital was never my preference, it was my only option. Losing the use of traditional mediums also removed my natural instincts with play, mark making, and physical media itself. I did not have the ability to naturally explore my artistic voice.

A proper diagnosis and medications ❤️ changed that a few years ago. When I started using traditional mediums again after almost 2 decades, I tried to replicate my digital work. Replication was a killer of my voice. The therapy, escape, and joy all went quiet.

Unsatisfied, I start thinking deeply about who I was, what I wanted to create and more importantly my roots.

My roots always were elusive and disconnected to me. Growing up in a very violent home and learning when I was 15 that was adopted and lied to for so many years was crushing. Heritage felt like something to escape and hope to survive rather than carry.

Then I started looking at the present. 😍🏠 My home is a maximalist cathedral, every wall and shelf filled with art, color, pattern and objects with meaning. The way I dress, the way I live, everything layered and symbolic and intensely mine. So why wasn't my art?

It clicked, it was always there but I spent the better part of my life rejecting it. So I dug out a box of photographs 📸 I hadn't looked at since my mother died in 2013. I already knew the answer the moment I asked the question.

I found the image I was looking for and it was everything. 🤩 I was sitting at a bright green children's art desk, sewing something I can no longer remember. Horrible wood paneling as my backdrop to the elegant lamp shade, aloe vera plant, gaudy candy dish, Polish tapestry and the brightly blue 💙 flowered chairs that I loved.

When I looked at this image it clicked, my roots and voice have been there all along. I just had to return to meet them and plant 🌿 them in healthier, more fertile soil.

I am the gardener of my roots.

Thanks Booooooom.com!

A good challenge is exactly what the studio needs sometimes. 🎨 Working on my piece for the Moleskine Project at Harman Projects and taking water mediums like gouache into a laid out sketchbook treated as a flat canvas was a genuinely fascinating experiment. 😍 This is the first time doing this.

Lots of control, lots of clips, and a whole lot of problem-solving. I have to say, I loved every bit of it and would absolutely work in this format again.

Mediums: Acrylic, Gouache, Oil Pastel, Colored Pencil + Gold Ink
Dimensions: 8.25" x 10.25"

Purchase Inquiries: [email protected]

📍1275 Minnesota St, San Francisco⁠
🗓️ Opening Saturday, 6/27 | On view through Saturday, 7/26

So excited to be a part of this!

We are so excited to announce 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈!

Featuring artists from around the world, this format driven exhibition spans various artistic styles and mediums, delving into the artists sketchbook.
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📍1275 Minnesota St, San Francisco⁠
🗓️ Opening Saturday, 6/27 | On view through Saturday, 7/26
⏰ 5PM – 7PM⁠
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Featured Artists:⁠
Dahlia Ammar | Raymond Argumedo | Paul Barnes | Kelsey Beckett | Robert Bowen | Dennis Brown | Stephanie Brown | Arthur Brouthers | Ryan Bubnis | Andrew Cadima | Adam Caldwell | Felicia Chiao | ChrisRWK | J.A.W. Cooper | Crisselle | Pedro De Kastro | Jason Edmiston | Averi Endow | Jeff Gillette | Giorgiko | Frank Gonzales | Kazuhiru Hori | Chiaki Ishimatsu - featured artwork | Celia Jacobs | Hanna Jaeun | Kellan Jett | Caroline Ji | Blake Jones | Aunia Kahn | Augustine Kofie | Jolene Lai | Melissa Lakey | Travis Louie | Rodrigo Luff | Ryan Malley | Christopher Martin | Christopher Michael Hefner | Tommy Mitchell | David Molesky | JP Neang | Reuben Negron | Lori Nelson | Zachary Oldenkamp | PEMEX | Neil M. Perry | Lee Piechocki | Ferris Plock | David Polka | Jason Raish | Reinn | David Rice | Gustavo Rimada | Matt Ritchie | Taylor Schultek | Angela Sung | Kevin Earl Taylor | James Thistlethwaite | Kelly Tunstall | Zachary Glenn Tutor | Brian M. Viveros | Helice Wen | John Wentz | Martin Wittfooth | Sam Wolfe Connelly | Bryce Wymer | G Yang | Alison Zai | Austen Zombres
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Learn more at: https://www.harmanprojects.com/exhibitions/105-the-moleskine-project-xiii/

There is something special about doing commissions. 💙 Thank you for the opportunity.

Some habits never leave you. 😍 Since childhood, the floor has been my thinking space, my planning ground, the place where ideas spread out to map future projects and ideas. Today, fresh off a stretch of deadlines, I dropped right back down to it, and this time the work ahead is something I've been quietly building toward for a long time.....

Planning has officially begun for my solo exhibition at Thinkspace Projects, opening January 2027.

It feels far away until it doesn't. 😅 This is the part of studio life I find deeply sustaining and rewarding. More to come as the work takes shape.

I am so thankful for this incredible opportunity ❤️

Sharing so you can see the size 😍

SOLD 🔴 What Lives in the Windows 🏠❤️‍🔥 of the Woman Who Became Her Own Shelter

🌟Purchase: https://poetictiger.com/product/what-lives-in-the-windows-of-the-woman-who-became-her-own-shelter-aunia-kahn

Acrylic, Gouache, Colored Pencil, and Gold Ink on Panel
7 in. x 14 in. / 17.78 cm x 35.56 cm, Antique Solid Carved Wood Frame: 14.5 in. x 22 in. hand painted and wonderfully imperfect.

Artwork for The Long Way Home opening at the Opening today May 15th, 2026

SOLD 🔴 What Lives in the Windows 🏠❤️‍🔥 of the Woman Who Became Her Own Shelter

🌟Purchase: https://poetictiger.com/product/what-lives-in-the-windows-of-the-woman-who-became-her-own-shelter-aunia-kahn (Link in Bio)

Acrylic, Gouache, Colored Pencil, and Gold Ink on Panel
7 in. x 14 in. / 17.78 cm x 35.56 cm, Antique Solid Carved Wood Frame: 14.5 in. x 22 in. hand painted and wonderfully imperfect.

Artwork for The Long Way Home opening at the Poetic Tiger Gallery Opening today May 15th, 2026

Looking forward to having new work in this show!

Opening June 4! THE PORTRAIT SHOW 14: MASQUERADE

Modern Eden Gallery proudly presents The Portrait Show 14: Masquerade, our annual portrait show and a yearly tradition celebrating the many forms of contemporary portraiture. This year’s theme explores the power of what we reveal and what we conceal. A mask can protect, transform, seduce, or liberate, hiding the face while exposing something deeper beneath. Through disguise, performance, ritual, and self invention, artists examine identity as something fluid, layered, and unstable. From ceremonial masks and theatrical personas to alter egos, private selves, and imagined identities, Masquerade considers the tension between who we are and who we choose to present. These portraits move beyond likeness, embracing the figure as a site of transformation that is elegant, uncanny, fractured, defiant, and beautifully artificial, revealing the many selves we carry behind the face.

On View: June 4, 2026-July 26, 2026

Opening Reception: June 4, 6-9 PM

When a publication you have admired ❤️ for years turns around and shines a light on your work, it’s genuinely such an awesome feeling. 🌟 Thank you so much Booooooom.com for taking the time to share my art with your incredible audience. I am so grateful!

Read Here: https://www.booooooom.com/2026/05/13/opulent-veil-by-artist-aunia-kahn/

This year has been truly extraordinary 💫 one for the books, without a doubt. Every heartfelt opportunity that has found its way to me has felt surreal and full of wonder, and I do not take a single moment of it for granted. Here is to more magic ahead. ✨

Every Shedding 🐍 Was Just Practice for the Final Transformation

Acrylic Gouache, Oil Pastel, Colored Pencil, Gold Ink, Fine Art 100% Arches Cotton Watercolor Paper, 6 in. x 8 in., 2026

Artwork for Alchemy of the Soul opening at the The Inverarity Gallery (1st June to 1st July 2026)