Eat Cake Gallery Wants to Share Hawai‘i Women’s Powerful Stories Through Video

The local production company, which aims to empower women through conversation and film, will hold a launch party on Sunday, March 26 at Red Pineapple in Kapolei. And, yep, there will be cake.

March 20, 2017

Katrina Valcourt,

Eat Cake Gallery founder Christina Uyeno, middle, with Lauren Roth (Lauren Roth Art) and Lynn Germain (Betty x Joe).

Photo: Wainani Paikai

Christina Uyeno deserves some cake. And, ladies, she thinks you do, too.

The 24-year-old dynamo, who works full-time at Honolulu Theatre for Youth and part-time at the Red Pineapple gift shop, recently started her own company, Eat Cake Gallery, to empower women through conversation and film. It got its name from the proverb that you can’t have your cake and eat it too, and the way that relates to women, who sometimes make the damn thing and still don’t get to partake in it.

She got the idea from a conversation with a friend who was going through a difficult period and just wanted to focus on her creativity, but didn’t have time. “I thought that outcry was beautiful and genuine,” Uyeno says. “I thought about how that resonated with me as an artist.”

She started talking to local women—artists, entrepreneurs and those in the LGBTQ community—and, after a few eye-opening conversations, realized this could be something big. “There were these great conversations we were having about women, about feminism, why we do this, are we crazy, are we not,” Uyeno says. An actor, Uyeno’s background is in theater and film, so it made sense for her to share these women’s powerful stories through video. She formed a team (co-owner Melissa Mattos, production team Jay Hernandez and Valerie Narte, and graphic designer Jerica Harada) and got to work.

She’s been at it for a year, and now Eat Cake Gallery is set to debut the first episode of “Indulge,” a 10-episode, artist-devised and -improvised piece inspired by one artist’s journey, recounted through three conversations. The episode will be shown at a launch party this Sunday, March 26, with music by DJ Tittahbyte, treats from Let Them Eat Cupcakes, drinks provided by Roxy OTM and Young’s Market Co., a pop-up by The Collective and more.

Eat Cake Gallery plans to also debut a narrative project inspired by stories Uyeno gathered from lesbian women on the island.

“I’m so excited mostly because I’ve gotten so much support, and I feel like I can’t fail,” Uyeno says. “What you’re gonna get are honest stories from people who just happen to do amazing things. What I would like is for women to feel like anything is tangible for them … It’s OK to feel afraid. We want to provide conversations and art that turn that fear into understanding—where can we go from here, how can I still be me amid what is happening [politically]. It’s going to go there.”

Check out the trailer below, and learn more on Eat Cake Gallery’s Facebook event page.

The Eat Cake Gallery launch party will be held March 26, 4 to 7 p.m., at Red Pineapple at Ka Makana Ali‘i, 91-5431 Kapolei Parkway, Kapolei, eatcakegallery.com