Kazani (he/him) is a Samoan first with a trans man experience, community organizer, and multidisciplinary artist. He is protective of his people’s narrative—a big brother, a fairy goddad, and a warrior. Kazani’s father emigrated from Samoa to the U.S. in the 80s, and his mother moved to California from Honolulu in 1978. He represents the third generation of mass incarceration in his family, AND NOW stands proudly as a first-generation college student and first-generation cycle breaker. Today, Kazani lives creative resistance as an organizer and artist committed to creating healing practices and sustainable spaces for youth, families, and elders.
Growing up in San Francisco “Frisco,” Kazani had to learn quickly that survival could either consume him or he could take control of the wheel. He became involved in communities that center young people starting at just 11 years old. His work as an artist is rooted in his social experiences while surviving displacement (frequent and ongoing to this day) from homes in Bayview Hunters Point, Western Addition/Fillmore, and Lower Mission/SoMa areas in San Francisco. Kazani is influenced by the joyfulness in celebrating individual breakthroughs and how people show up in groups and communities to share authentic self-practices. Over the past decade, he has evolved his artistic practice across digital art, short monologues, poetry, lettering/image stencils, and messaging in all these forms.
Kazani reminds others that artistry is vital to social changes that paint and document the progress of our collective evolution.