Nāwāhineokalaʻi (Nawahine) Lanzilotti is a kanaka ʻōiwi (Native Hawaiian) multi-disciplinary artist and educator from lower Mānoa, Oʻāhu. Nawahine facilitates creative acts of decolonisation to cultivate deeper connections across indigenous communities and amplify indigenous voices, with a focus on Pacific communities. 

 

From 2012-2018, Nawahine lived in New Delhi, India studying Hindustani music, developing and teaching place-based music curriculum with a local NGO, and creating cross-cultural productions with her international arts collective. Working with indigenous artists in India and the continental US instilled the value of connecting our indigenous communities around the world for our collective liberation. 

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Nawahine holds an MA in Ethnomusicology from Eastman School of Music on conceptions of sound and song performance in the Deaf community. In 2019, she earned her MFA in experimental sound from Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College with the completion of her thesis, "Nā Kai ʻEwalu: Fluidity and Fragmentation as Form in Indigenous Experimental Performance." 

 

Nawahine most recently served as the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Coordinator for East-West Center in Mānoa, O'ahu; her equity and inclusion philosophy advocates for transformative justice by centering indigenous methods, amplifying indigenous perspectives, enriching cultural competency, and strengthening community relationships.

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In May 2023, Nawahine founded Pulse Oceania to advance Pacific sovereignty (for our food, lands, and waters) through projects that support indigenous creative processes and artistic exchanges. In support of this work, Nawahine was selected to join the third cohort of the Culture of Health Leadership Institute (CoHLI) through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Collaborative for Health Equity in 2024.