Hello and Goodbye was created using a 16-foot by 4-foot birch wood panel and is adorned with ceramic insets and gold leaf. Featuring painted figures depicting artist Kathy Liao’s grandmother, the piece reflects layers of memories from Liao’s personal experiences with family and travel, and symbolizes the rituals of arrival, departure, and connections.

Local artist Kathy Minhsin Liao is a Taiwan native who immigrated to southern California as a teenager and has lived in the Kansas City area since 2014. She creates her pieces using mixed media with inspiration derived from her diverse cultural background, including concepts of relationships, rituals, and the struggle of distance that separates loved ones. Liao captures the space between memories and physical place, which translates through her work in different layers by manipulating the mediums used to give weight, depth, and texture. 

For Hello and Goodbye, Liao recalled the memories and rituals of spending time in the Los Angeles airport seeing off and welcoming her father who traveled frequently between Taiwan and the U.S.. She uses depictions of her grandmother to portray those rituals of “coming and going” in relation to the longing of connection, as distance has separated her family most of her life. 

Liao received her MFA in Painting from Boston University and BFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Washington-Seattle. She has been the recipient of multiple awards, grants, and fellowships, and her work has been shown internationally.

Hello and Goodbye, Kathy Liao Portfolio. Accessed October 24th, 2023. http://www.kathyliao.com/portfolio#/hello-and-goodbye/.

About, Kathy Liao Portfolio. Accessed October 24th, 2023. http://www.kathyliao.com/about.

Steinmetz, Channa. How Kansas City’s new airport terminal became a sprawling art gallery for 28 diverse creatives, Startland News. February 28th, 2023. Accessed October 24th, 2023. https://www.startlandnews.com/2023/02/kci-art-gallery/.

Karash, Julius. Julius Karash on Business and the Arts: Public Art for KCI, the Largest Public Art Project in KC History, is on Track for Installation by the New Airport’s Opening in March 2023, KC Studio Magazine. September 19th, 2022. Accessed October 24th, 2023. https://kcstudio.org/public-art-for-kci-the-largest-public-art-project-in-kc-history-is-on-track-for-installation-by-the-new-airports-opening-in-march-2023/.

Kathy Liao - Interview for Exhibition at Cedar Roe Library, Johnson County Library. Accessed October 24th, 2023. https://www.jocolibrary.org/events/exhibitions/kathy-liao.