• Summary •

Hala: Weaving Knowledge and Practices

This exhibition celebrates hala (Pandanus tectorius), a plant central to traditional Hawaiian material culture and cosmology. It brings together contemporary artists, cultural practitioners, natural/cultural resource managers and scientists in Hawaiʻi to envision hopeful futures that embrace ecological and cultural resilience. The exhibition embraces the concept of makawalu - which expresses a Hawaiian sensibility of inquiry and understanding phenomena from many perspectives. In this case the exhibition brings together inquiry from many disciplines (botany, geography, anthropology) whilst also centering indigenous knowledge and practice, and embracing arts-based research and collaborations. This bringing together of different worldviews, also expressed in the concept of cosmopolitics, allows for the possibility of a creative and emergent encounter opening the doors to other worlds and ways of relating to hala.

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THE ART PIECES
Keaukaha hala tree

The making of the exhibition

ʻAʻohe hala ʻula i ka pō. No hala fruit shows its color in the darkness of night. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau Hawaiʻian proverbs and poetical sayings.

Ulana lauhala – the weaving of the hala (Pandanus tectorius) leaves is a key Hawaiian cultural practice kept alive by practitioners, communities and intergenerational learning spaces. Ulana lauhala involves not only the weaving of hala itself, but also the care of groves, the harvest and preparation of hala leaves and the making of tools involved in these processes. Lauhala (hala leaves) weaving continues to be a significant part of Native Hawaiian material culture with expertise passed across generations and families and taking many years to master. In Hawaiian cultural practice, parts of the hala tree are used for weaving, thatching and shelter-building, lei-making, and as dye, medicine, and food. In the context of cultural history, lauhala sails powered the ocean-voyaging canoes of the Polynesian navigators. Research also highlights the significance of hala as an historically key economic activity in Hawaiʻi, where many families made and sold hala products to supplement their livelihood in exchange for food, goods, or as a way into the cash economy. With the decline of hala as a widely used material in Hawaiʻi, supplemented by manufactured goods, the hala economy has remained in the margins primarily as one for asserting heritage and perpetuating cultural identity. At the same time a number of challenge the continuity of this set of cultural practices: the decreasing number of kumu – experienced teachers who can pass on the whole range of practices around hala; the reduced knowledge around the care of hala groves and harvest of hala leaves; the decreased availability of hala trees to harvest from, especially on ʻOahu and Maui; and the arrival of new pests harmful to hala. Many of these challenges are exacerbated by climate change. 

This exhibition, and the project from which it emerges, raises key questions around this world of hala:

  • What is the historical and present day significance of hala?
  • How has hala/human relations transformed over the decades?
  • What are the possibilities for re-imagining novel meanings and relations with hala in the age of climate change?

Like ulana lauhala itself, a key goal of this project is to interweave divergent knowledges and practices. This project has assembled a stellar group of Hawaii-based contemporary artists, expert lauhala weavers, scientists and cultural practitioners/land-stewards. This particular group of artists and master weavers were selected because of their materially divergent yet overlapping interests centered on: Native Hawaiian cultural resilience, regeneration and resistance; the cultural and ecological impacts of colonialism and on the land; the intersection of art, science, technology and ecology; and bio-cultural mapping.

Making pau skirt with hala roots

 The three curators bring their complementary knowledge, practices and sensibilities to develop an emergent, interdisciplinary, collaborative learning, research and making methodology that brings together this group of artists, scientists, natural and cultural resource managers, educators, and indigenous practitioners as a means of engaging with the above questions. This happened over 14 months through regular co-learning sessions – held where hala groves and ulana lauhala thrive – privileging the weaving of relations above all. As befits Native Hawaiian research and making protocols, a key participant in this project has been the hala groves and trees themselves. A running question asked as we met and explored our relationships to hala was: what does hala want?

The exhibition is an output of the USGS/PI-CASC (United States Geological Survey/Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center) funded project Lauhala: Weaving knowledge and practices with a climate resilient and culturally significant plant on Hawaiʻi island. Participating organizations in this project are: Enlivened Cooperative, the University of Hawai’i; The Kohala Center; and Kū-A-Kanaka. 

• Participants •

curators

Kanani Daley

Co-curator (Native Hawaiian designer, artist and curator) is recognized for her curation of exhibitions centering on the changing cultural and social values in Hawai‘i. She is interested in the plurality of culture and identity for indigenous people, and the unbeaten path to self-determination. She foresees her curatorial practice advancing traditional Hawaiian materials with forward thinking concepts. She’s looking forward to engaging with artists to push hala, central to traditional Hawaiian material culture, towards unexpected applications. These applications include architectural installations, audio compositions, performance, and cartography, all of which will emerge from a series of shared experiences between artists, scientists, and cultural practitioners, over the course of a year.

Mary Babcock

Co-curator (Native Hawaiian designer, artist and curator) is recognized for her curation of exhibitions centering on the changing cultural and social values in Hawai‘i. She is interested in the plurality of culture and identity for indigenous people, and the unbeaten path to self-determination. She foresees her curatorial practice advancing traditional Hawaiian materials with forward thinking concepts. She’s looking forward to engaging with artists to push hala, central to traditional Hawaiian material culture, towards unexpected applications. These applications include architectural installations, audio compositions, performance, and cartography, all of which will emerge from a series of shared experiences between artists, scientists, and cultural practitioners, over the course of a year.

Udi Mandel

Co-curator (cultural anthropologist, educator, filmmaker and founding member of Enlivened Cooperative) provides methodological guidance of facilitating encounters between different knowledge and practices as well as of an emergent approach to such encounters. Udi’s filmmaking, education, research and community organizing work has involved bringing together different knowledge and practices across different communities around the world. Udi is also the Co-PI with Noa Lincoln and Ku Kahakalau on the USGS/PI-CASC funded research project.

Exhibition Participants

Marques Marzan

Oahu - Hawaiian and Oceanic fibers culture bearer and contemporary visual artist born and raised in Kāne‘ohe, Hawaiʻi. His skill, knowledge, and experience is highly acknowledged within his community where he serves as a mentor and advocate, promoting sustainable gathering practices, perpetuating Hawaiian fiber techniques, and instilling indigenous values in his students. He trained under esteemed experts in Hawai‘i including master weavers, Julia Minerva Ka‘awa and Esther Kakalia Westmoreland.

Sean Connolly

Oahu and Hawai‘i - is a Pacific Islander American artist born, residing, and working in Honolulu, Kona, Oʻahu. Sean's multifaceted practice encompasses sculpture, installation, film, design, and cartography, frequently integrating experimental methodologies. Their work delves into the interplay with the built environment, intersecting oceanic intellect and futures in contemporary practice, spanning both tangible and theoretical domains. This exploration is informed by cultural, ecological, historical, material, water, food sovereignty, and land justice themes.

Yola Stockton

Oahu - Yola Monakhov Stockton is an artist working in photography, film, and media on themes of ecology, land relations, and community practice. Her work engages collaboration with science laboratories, community groups, and other systems. She is particularly interested in forms of resilience and adaptation across webs of life within social and political contexts.

Carl F K Pao

Oahu - Yola Monakhov Stockton is an artist working in photography, film, and media on themes of ecology, land relations, and community practice. Her work engages collaboration with science laboratories, community groups, and other systems. She is particularly interested in forms of resilience and adaptation across webs of life within social and political contexts.

Corinne Okada Takara

Oahu - is a Honolulu based artist/STEAM educator who works with museums, libraries and after school programs to create workshops that elevate and empower community voices in conversations centered on civic spaces, identity, science, and technology. She conducts workshops on sustainability design and biomaterial design that celebrate existing cultural and community knowledge Her participation is key to enhancing outreach within local communities.

Duncan Ka‘oho Seto (Hilo)

For decades, master weaver Duncan Ka’ohu Seto has literally woven his Native Hawaiian ancestral gifts into his community’s present and future. Some of Ka’ohu’s best work will never been seen. It wasn’t meant to be. Deeply involved as a teacher and advocate in the reemergence of lauhala weaving, an art form long at the center of traditional everyday Hawaiian life and households, Kaʻohu has woven lauhala into another lifelong commitment — the repatriation of Hawaiian ancestral remains and sacred objects. He has created hundreds of burial baskets to contain ancestral remains so that they could be returned with dignity to the land of their birth. Tasked with teaching new students, Kaʻohu has visited schools, colleges and Hawaiian communities who wanted to share the responsibility to become part of the healing process.

Dee Shimabukuro

Originally from Honokaa and now resides in Keaau Hawai’i. She started weaving in 1972 after taking classes from Elaine Mulaney of Queen Emma Hawaiian Civic Club. In 1999, she participated in a State Foundation on Culture and the Arts Program as an apprentice to master weaver Lily Sugahara and is now a kumu for Aha Puhala O Puna, a club that was founded by Minnie Ka’awaloa and Lily Sugahara. She has been a kumu for conferences put on by Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona and Kauluhiwaolele, a Maui Fiber Arts Conference.

Mei Lin Wong-Gary

Born on Oahu, Mei Lin was introduced to lauhala weaving when she moved from California to the Big Island. In 1992, she joined Aha Puhala O Puna and began serving as an officer for many years. This was a non-profit lauhala weaving club dedicated to perpetuate the art and culture of ulana lauhala. During this time she gleaned ulana techniques and mana’o from founding members, Aunty Minnie Kaawaloa, Aunty Lily Sugahara, and Aunty Minnies apprentices, Noe and Philip Ng. To this day, she takes great joy in sharing her weaving experiences with others, while supporting their creative endeavors to learn the art of lauhala weaving.

Lise Michelle Childers (Pu’uhonua Society)

Lise Michelle Suguitan Childers grew up in Kalihi Uka, Kona, Oʻahu and started their weaving journey in 2017 under the generous guidance of Lorna May Pacheco and Mahina and Cheryl Pūkahi. Their commitment to practice has culminated in forms such as book, performance, and dream, as well as supporting foundational classes with community weaving program Keanahala.

Mia Akau-LaClair

was born and raised in Puʻukapu, Waimea where she currently lives with her ʻohana. She is a caretaker of the Niuliʻi hala grove and the Director of Kohala Papahana at The Kohala Center (TKC). Founded in 2000, TKC is an ʻāina and community-based organization that turns ancestral knowledge and research into daily practice to strengthen conditions for pilina that reconnect us back to place, water, food, and people. Mia works across Kohala moku to support ʻāina preservation and regeneration projects, centered on learning from ʻāina and application of the learning with community, toward development of more ʻāina stewarded practitioners.

Kū Kahakalau

Kū is a native Hawaiian educator, researcher, cultural practitioner, grassroots activist, and expert in Hawaiian language and culture. An award-winning educator, researcher, songwriter, and Hawaiian language and culture expert, Kū has been involved in Indigenous, particularly Hawaiian, Education and Research for over 30 years. For the past 35 years, Kū has promoted hands-on learning in the environment, community sustainability and Hawaiian self-determination. Kū is the founder and ED of KŪ-A-KANAKA and is recently launched EA Ecoversity, a Hawaiian-focused post-secondary program that transitions Indigenous youth to culturally-grounded, happy, successful, thriving adults and responsible global citizens.

Justin Kellum

is a geospatial analyst and educator specializing in GIS, remote sensing, and environmental justice. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Geography at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where his research focuses on mapping urban microclimates using iButton sensors, remote sensing, and machine learning techniques. His work with hala centers on mapping its historical and contemporary distribution across Hawai‘i to support both cultural preservation and environmental resilience. Through geospatial tools and spatial analysis, he seeks to empower local communities in their care for hala, illuminating the tree’s deep connection to place while strengthening conservation efforts and supporting weaving practices.

Gloria-Ann Pualani Muraki (Kona)

For decades, master weaver Duncan Ka’ohu Seto has literally woven his Native Hawaiian ancestral gifts into his community’s present and future. Born in Lehuʻula, resides at Holualoa makai on the moku of Hawai’i. All credit that has allowed me to perpetuate this art is due to Kupuna of old and current, physical and none physical, and especially to my Ohana (living and not living) who has supported me through this journey. I have shared and advocated for this traditional practice with youth and adults of public schools, private schools, colleges, and community events throughout the Hawaiian islands. Much of my involvement in recent years and currently has been with Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona and Friends of Ka Ulu Lauhala O Kona, both non-profit organizations. The opportunity to practice and perpetuate the traditional art of lauhala weaving with community learners of all ages remains my passion. of Ka’ohu’s best work will never been seen. It wasn’t meant to be. Deeply involved as a teacher and advocate in the reemergence of lauhala weaving, an art form long at the center of traditional everyday Hawaiian life and households, Kaʻohu has woven lauhala into another lifelong commitment — the repatriation of Hawaiian ancestral remains and sacred objects. He has created hundreds of burial baskets to contain ancestral remains so that they could be returned with dignity to the land of their birth. Tasked with teaching new students, Kaʻohu has visited schools, colleges and Hawaiian communities who wanted to share the responsibility to become part of the healing process.