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Photos in the masthead courtesy of Meleanna Aluli Meyer
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Here's a special look at how history is shaping the lives of key individuals and how they in turn are shaping history. Currently highlighted are participants from Matters of Race. Check back on October 23, 2003 for additional profiles and interviews. Carl Franklin Ka`ailia`au Pao, Jr.
During what spare time he can muster, Carl participates in solo and group exhibitions both locally and internationally. Carl's work is included in numerous private and public collections worldwide. Carl also makestime to complete numerous private comissions. Artist's Statement: "My work revolves around the theme of kaona and wa. Kanaka maoli culture describes kaona as being the veiled layers of knowledge that is accessible only to the experienced person and wa as the "space between." I believe that within the wa is where the kaona of the universe exist. The purpose of my art is striving towards creating a work of art that acts as a doorway into the wa." Ku Statement: Ku for me goes back to when I first started attempting wood carving and wanted something to symbolize procreation...Ku came out of it because I thought back to our ancestors when the ule (penis) were knocked off our ki`i (images), symbolizing the stripping of male masculinity. I wanted to re-instill that, somehow. The ule became larger, more dramatic. They more or less became a beacon, or a pahu (drum) to sound men to bring them back to their responsibility of what roles men would have had, to re-instill that masculinity...The ule is the one symbol, the one thing that stands out the most for me in representing the Ku.
The originators of Hawaiian Rap (Na Mele Paleoleo), Sudden Rush is comprised of Don "King Don One" Kawa`auhau, Shane "Kid Dynamite" Veincent, Caleb "Red Eye" Richards and "Radical Rob" Onekea. With a message of sovereignty, rebellion and awareness, Sudden Rush was able to educate the younger generations of Hawaii about its history, present and the future of the Nation of Hawaii through its music. Words to Sudden Rush's Ea [here] Listen to an MP3 sample of Sudden Rush [here] Sudden Rush Website : http://www.sudden-rush.com Kapulani Landgraf was born and raised in Pu'ahu'ula, Kane'ohe,on the windward side of O'ahu. Landgraf's 1994 book, Na Wahi Pana o Ko'olau Poko: The Legendary Places of Ko'olau Poko ( Honolulu : University of Hawai 'i Press), was the winner of Ka Palapala Po'okela Award for Excellence in Illustrative Books. Her work has been shown in Alaska, Arizona, British Colombia, Hawai'i, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington, and Germany. She currently teaches photography at Kapi' olani Community College and Windward Community College. Issues impacting Hawaiian rights and culture motivate Landgraf's photographic collages and installation work. Her interest in history is reflected in the multiple layers of her collages, and many dimensions of Hawaiian symbolism and allusion infuse her work. Landgraf's photographic collages debunk the myth of Hawai'i as paradise. Missionaries, tourists, and Hawaiian spiritual ancestors occupy a photographic reality in which the past and present coexist. Hawaiian voices of resistance reverberate throughout the English and Hawaiian texts she uses. These voices of protest demand protection for Hawaiian sacred sites and ancestral burial grounds in the face of continual development. In Landgraf's view, land is not meant for individual profit. Instead, the land inspires, even demands, responsible guardianship. Her art is therefore part of a creative movement that exists to love and cherish the land, including the protection of na wahi kapu from desecration. Because these lands bind contemporary Hawaiians to their ancestors, the survival of sacred sites is imperative. To respect and care for these sites now is to prepare for a future for native Hawaiians.
Meleanna Aluli Meyer received her degree in design and photography from Stanford and MA in Educational Foundations from the University of Hawai'i . A recipient of numerous awards, she continues her work in the advocacy of all things Hawaiian and justice and peace. Artist's statement:
The responsibility that comes with the making of art is profound in that we are challenged to vision with all our senses, not only for ourselves, but for those past, present and to come. Art is the most natural extension of self in communion with Akua, with the inner and outer - and with all things seen and unseen. By actively and consciously creating, we become stewards of many things. .of nature, of our thoughts, hopes and expressions, of a community ethos, of cultural representations, histories etc. My work is about a life in process -my own and its connection to all that is. A continuous visual commentary that goes on about me in my day-to-day. Layers of interaction and dialogue. My passion is for all that is creative, for all that is divine. The process at its best happens when I step out of the way and become a conduit - between. Issues of justice and peace are like this as well, one has to live and walk the talk no matter what the obstacles or odds. Truth, justice and spirit come from the very same wellspring that feeds our longing for righteousness. We do well when we work and can vision together - I hope that my art brings people to that place of dialogue.
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