artSEA Design

Islanda Khau was born in a refugee camp in Kao-I-Dang, Thailand after her parents escaped the Killing Fields in Cambodia. With her family, she immigrated to the United States in 1980. She graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Interdisciplinary Arts focusing on culture, literature and the arts. With her passion for art and design, she dedicated her time as Webmaster and Graphic Designer for the Khmer Student Association at UW. After working a few years as a graphic designer, Islanda took a position in the education department at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, the only pan-Asian American Museum in the country.  However, after seeing how faceless Southeast Asians have perpetually been in the art world, Islanda decided to further her education and she graduated from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia with a Masters of Arts in Museum Communication. As a Cambodian-American, Islanda hopes to change how traditional museums and galleries function and make them more accessible to a diverse, ethnic and socially economic audience.