Some of Hawaii’s top female artists are reflecting on 100 years of U.S. suffrage in a Hawai‘i State Art Museum 2020 Artists Portfolio Series exhibit at Halekulani.

The five artists, who donated their time to raise money for HiSAM, created works that express their thoughts on suffrage from its roots a century ago to modern days.

Contributors, including Reem Bassous, Sally French, Pegge Hopper, Mary Mitsuda and Deborah Nehmad, also pay homage to Hawaii’s past when Queen Lili‘uokalani ruled Hawaii to the current slate of strong female political leaders.

The exhibit, which opened Feb. 13, will run through April and features 11 works, including the five commemorating suffrage. Halekulani’s exhibition gallery is open 9 a.m to 8 p.m. daily and offers free admission. All five artists will be at Halekulani at 5:30 p.m. today for a VIP reception.

“Over the last 25 years, we’ve been committed to arts and cultural institutions. We opened our own exhibit gallery in 2014. We look for different exhibits that are unique and in some cases that have never been seen,” said Patricia Tam, Halekulani Corp. chief executive adviser.

“We thought this exhibit, which celebrates 100 years of women’s suffrage in the U.S., would be interesting. The five female artists that they selected also exhibit at the Hawai‘i State Art Museum,” Tam said.

In addition to partnering with Halekulani to exhibit the works, HiSAM will use the collection as a fundraiser to sell portfolio memberships for $800 for March only. Members will receive prints of all five suffrage works, which are limited to 50 prints. Original works will be sold, too. After March, the portfolio membership will be $1,000. Visit www.friendsofhisam.org for more information.

Yvonne Hunter, Friends of HiSAM board member, said each artist offers a different perspective, and each painting represents a different part of the story. However, the overarching theme really focuses on how much “voice” women have now.

“If the idea of universal suffrage was the voice, do we really have it? If you’re just watching CNN and you are completely caught up, you are losing sight of what having a real voice means. It’s not just noise. Visual art can uniquely cut through the noise and real-time media to make a statement that’s relevant 100 years later,” Hunter said.

For example, in the piece “think about it,” Nehmad conveys her messaging through blue male gender symbols and pink female gender symbols.

Nehmad said she wanted to “visually convey the disparity between the number of years that women have had the right to vote — 100 — to the 237 years for men.”

“The pink symbols are muted and printed first, basically trapped under (and in some cases penetrated by) the male symbols. It’s another layer(s) of meaning conveying female suppression,” Nehmad said.

While Mitsuda said her painting “Ti Portrait” is a reminder that “we are all truly in the same canoe or boat — no choice — and must work together, respect each other, in our efforts to create a new homeland.”

Mitsuda said being treated as an equal seems to require legislation and also constant vigilance until acceptance and balance are established.

“The ti leaf can be a talisman for the respect and self-respect we need to bring our canoe to safe landfall,” she said.