Chloe Yano

Biography

Chloe Yano is an emerging curator dedicated to expanding opportunities for contemporary artists in Micronesia, particularly in her home island of Belau (Palau). After returning to Belau in 2018, following the completion of her degree in International Business and Trade in Taiwan, she began her career in cultural tourism with the Palau Visitor Authority. That same year, she co-founded Create Belau, an artist- and curator-led platform that amplifies the voices of artists from Belau and its diaspora while fostering cultural exchange across Asia and Oceania through collaborations with institutions in Japan, Taiwan, Bangladesh, and Australia.

In 2023, Yano founded the Display of Art & Visual Expression (D.A.V.E.), an annual exhibition platform for emerging artists held at Palau's Capitol Building and named in honour of the prominent Palauan artist Dave. Leveraging a broad cross-sector network, the initiative has presented four exhibitions featuring 52 local and diaspora artists and attracted thousands of visitors. In 2025, Create Belau expanded into film, premiering works by eight regional storytellers through a curated screening programme.

Yano's curatorial practice is rooted in Belau's deep cultural relationship with land and sea, using art to interpret and celebrate this enduring connection. Her recent exhibition, Rongel a Buil ma Sils ("Reflected Light of the Moon and Sun"), explored traditional knowledge systems in which the moon and sun guide everyday life, from fishing to construction. Bringing together painting, literature, artisanal crafts, and film, the exhibition attracted a record audience of more than 1,000 visitors.

She is currently developing projects for the upcoming World Expos in Belgrade and Saudi Arabia, presenting the stories and cultural heritage of the people of Belau, while also collaborating with the Permanent Mission of Palau to the United Nations in New York.

Chloe Yano, Vice President at Create Belau, Koror, Palau, has been awarded by the Getty Foundation (Los Angeles, USA).