Look, AI can write your emails, your cover letters, and apparently your wedding vows now — but it still can’t paint your mom the way you see her. That’s still on you. And while everyone is out here arguing about whether robots will take our jobs, Oki Social is asking a more important question: how do YOU see the woman who raised you? We’re back with another community art contest, and this one hits close to home — literally. It’s called 50 Shades of Mom, and yes, we went there.
🎨 What Is This Contest?
50 Shades of Mom is Oki Social’s community art contest in honor of Mother’s Day 2026. The theme is simple and impossible at the same time: Mom. Your mom. The idea of mom. The version of her that lives in your head rent-free at 2am. Draw her, paint her, collage her, print something you made on your iPad at midnight — whatever medium you work in, bring it to life.
Any style goes. Abstract, realistic, funny, ugly-cry emotional — we want to see all of it. The only rule is that your submission has to be a physical piece. If you made it digitally, print it out and bring us the paper. We’re old school like that.
📌 How to Enter
Each person may submit one piece of artwork — so make it count. Bring your best work. Here’s the full process from start to finish:
- Create your artwork. Any medium is fair game — painting, drawing, collage, mixed media, digital art printed out. The only requirement is that your submission is a physical piece. If you made it digitally, print it out and bring us the paper.
- Drop it off at Oki Social. Bring your artwork to Oki Social, Kadena Exchange, 1st floor, right in front of Bath and Body Works, before the deadline of May 1, 2026. Our staff will log your entry and keep your piece safe until the contest wraps up.
- We hold onto everything. All submitted artwork stays with us through the end of the contest. Once voting closes and the winner is announced, participants can choose to come back and pick up their piece — or leave it with us. Either way, no artwork goes anywhere without your say-so.
🗳️ How Voting Works
Once submissions close on May 1, we photograph every entry and post the full gallery on the Oki Social Facebook and Instagram pages. Voting is simple: likes and hearts count as votes. Whichever piece racks up the most combined reactions across both platforms wins the contest.
Voting runs from May 4 through May 9, 2026. Share your entry. Campaign for yourself. Tell your people to like it, heart it, and share it with everyone they know. This is the most wholesome campaigning you’ll do all year. The winner will be announced on Mother’s Day weekend — May 10, 2026.
🎁 Prizes
There is one main winner, and we’ve put together a prize worth painting for: a curated set of art supplies to fuel whatever you make next. Consider it our way of saying — don’t stop here.
But the winner isn’t the only one walking away with something. Every single participant gets a participation gift when they come in to pick up their artwork. Because showing up, making something, and putting it in front of the community? That deserves recognition on its own. No one goes home empty-handed.
Where and When 📅
📍 Oki Social Store — Kadena Exchange, 1st Floor (in front of Bath and Body Works), Kadena, Okinawa
📆 Submission deadline: May 1, 2026
📆 Voting open: May 4–9, 2026
📆 Winner announced: May 10, 2026 (Mother’s Day weekend)
📆 Artwork & gift pickup: May 10–17, 2026
Drop-off Location
Add May 1 to your calendar as the drop-off deadline, and swing by Oki Social at the Kadena Exchange to make it official. For more events and things to do around Okinawa this week, head to okisocial.com/category/events/.
