Faith-Ann Kiwa Young is a Los Angeles–based artist whose colorful digital abstractions and large-scale textile “flag” installations create meditative sanctuaries in contrast to today’s fast-paced world. Blending photography, painting, poetry, sculpture, and mixed media, her creations invite reflection and connection.
Her art has been exhibited internationally from Miami to England and often includes participatory elements. She collaborates with like-minded artists, NGOs, teams, and festivals, addressing themes of mental health, social justice and non-violence. Drawing from her half-Japanese heritage, in 2022, she founded Kibō Nobori, a children’s arts and culture festival in Little Tokyo, to celebrate community resilience and spread hope (“kibō” in japanese) in the post-COVID era.
Faith-Ann graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University, with a Bachelor of Arts, studied photography at UCLA and Japanese language at Kanda University in Chiba, Japan. Her photographs have appeared in The Economist, Rolling Stone, and Dwell and have been published in two books. Before launching her full-time art career, Faith-Ann worked as a creative director, founding the award-winning creative agency Mossy Creative, which she sold to Blended Strategy Group in 2021. As a creative director and strategist, she has collaborated on projects with Kevin Bacon, Reese Witherspoon, Justin Timberlake, and Mindy Kaling, non-profits like Little Tokyo Service Center and All Hands Org, as well as brands like TIMES UP, Live Nation, and Skims.
Recent highlights include designing the 2025 AAPI scarf for Los Angeles’ women’s football club Angel City FC and receiving a Root & Resilience Grant from the Doan Foundation.
She is passionate about using art to unite communities and build a more equitable, colorful, and peaceful world.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My artistic practice uses color, vibrancy, and ethereality to reimagine space and time, to create a safe space in our incessantly violent world, to create shelter, joy, and comfort for those who need it, and to amplify and support those who feel often unseen.
I paint with images - layering elements of photos I have collected over the years - vistas from nature, celestial patterns, ancient iconography, even my own paint strokes - into magical realistic digital compositions that are meant to evoke memory. As my father is currently suffering from early on-set dementia, this practice has taken on a new meaning.
I print these unique compositions onto delicate, diaphanous fabrics, sew, and hang these sculptures ceremoniously into the air, as a means of casting a wish, opening a portal. I am recreating a soft, womb-like state, where we were all floating futures, protected and finally free.
There is this concept in Japan called Mono No Aware - which is an intense awareness of one's place in the world, and our transience here. I think I am trying to showcase this - the intense brilliance and infinite heartbreak of what it is like to be alive at this time.
SOLO & DUO EXHIBITIONS / INSTALLATIONS
July 2025 Remembrances Series : “Be Love” Installation | Casa Murtoli | Corsica, France
Sept 2024 All The (Healing) Parts | Duo Exhibition with Shizuka Kusayanagi | DMST Atelier | Los Angeles, CA
Feb 2024 LAGC Inaugural Flag Installation | Sofi Stadium | LA, CA
Feb 2024 Cycle of Life | Collide 01 Creative Wellness | El Sereno, CA
May 2023 KIBŌ NOBORI | Terasaki Budokan | Downtown Little Tokyo | LA, CA
May 2022 KIBŌ NOBORI | Terasaki Budokan | Downtown Little Tokyo | LA, CA
Sept 2025 LA Design Weekend “Sanctuary : Sanctuary City” | Park + Lex Studios, Los Angeles, CA
Mar 2025 Notes On LA | Pascal Foto + Art Group Show | West Adams, Los Angeles, CA
Feb 2025 Art For Renewal Fire Relief Benefit | 18th Street Arts Center | Los Angeles, CA
Feb 2025 La Ayuda | Felix Art Fair | Los Angeles CA
Feb 2024 Soft Recreation Lunar New Year Celebration | Hollywood, CA
May 2024 KIBŌ NOBORI | Terasaki Budokan | Downtown Little Tokyo | LA, CA
May 2024 Connected Installation | Honor Your Feelings Festival | Asian Mental Health Project | LA, CA
May 2023 Imagination Station | Honor Your Feelings Fest | Asian Mental Health Project | LA, CA
May 2023 To My Ancestors Installation | Pinaysphere AAPI Event | Ventura, CA
Dec 2021 Hero's Journey | Group Installation | Carillon Wellness Resort | Miami Art Basel Week| Miami, FL
Fall 2019 Women Flag Installation | Venice Vernon Art Studios | Venice, CA
Feb 2019 Women Flag Installation | Lean In x Savoir Collab | The Row DTLA
Oct 2018 Hindsight Book Release | Book collaboration with Justin Timberlake
July 2017 LOVE Installation | Midsummer’s Night | Kent, UK
Dec 2015 Windhorse Debut | Summit At Sea | Miami, FL
Dec 2015 Windhorse Exhibit | Freehand Hotel | Miami Art Basel | Miami, FL
Nov 2013 House of Drama Exhibit | The Space 650 | Venice, CA
June 2013 LOVE Group Exhibit | The Space 650 | Venice, CA
July 2012 Untamed Exhibit | Lux/Eros Gallery | Venice, CA
Oct 2011 Audio/Visual Juried Exhibition Presented by NY Photo Festival | Power House Arena | Dumbo, NY
Oct 2010 CMJ "30 Years" Art Exhibit | Paper-Spaceship Gallery | Chelsea, NY
Mar 2010 On The Fridge Group Exhibit | Particle Studios | San Francisco, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS / INSTALLATIONS
VIDEO
2016 Director - “Can’t Stop The Feeling - First Listen” Music Video - featuring Justin Timberlake, Gwen Stefani, James Corden, Anna Kendrick
AWARDS / GRANTS
2025 Roots + Resilience Grant | Doan Foundation 2021 Webby Award | Public Service & Activism | #IStayHomeFor Social Activism Campaign to Prevent Spread of Covid-19, feat. Kevin Bacon
2012 Winner | Objects of Desire : Interiors Competition | PDN Magazine
2012 Best Music Shots of 2012 | Rolling Stone Magazine