Hawaiʻi's public art museum unveiled exhibits dedicated to the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture last week.
Pacific artwork adorns the halls of Capitol Modern in downtown Honolulu. Some highlight the artistry of Pacific Islanders in the diaspora, while others showcase contemporary art from Native Hawaiian artists.
"We need to continue to practice our ancestral crafts, but we also need to embrace what we have done historically," said Kaili Chun, a co-curator for the ʻAI Ā MANŌ exhibit.
"We have embraced new technologies that we have been introduced to and have reincorporated those tools into new work that directly respond to the time in which we live."
ʻAI Ā MANŌ has a mix of artworks, including paintings, sculptures, photographs and more.
One art piece that caught Chun's eye was a more than 10-foot-tall shark-toothed club made out of a surfboard. The leiomano was used as a weapon before European contact.
The exhibit also reflects the growing number of works of art acquired by the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts from Native Hawaiian artists.
Another exhibit is called Nā Akua Ākea: The Vast and Numerous Deities. It focuses on the weaving endeavors of practitioners and efforts to revitalize traditional basket weaving.
The exhibit is lined up with kiʻi, or images of Native Hawaiian Gods. The woven art pieces are made of ratan and ʻieʻie, an endemic woody vine found in Hawai'i.
Each art piece has a distinct face, some decorated with teeth and even human hair.
Co-curator Lloyd Kumulāʻau Sing said the style of basket weaving differs from weaving lauhala, which comes from the leaf of a Hala tree.
"It's harder on the hands because of tension and pulling," Sing said.
These images of gods are found throughout Polynesia. Some are called Moai or Tiki, depending on which island is in the Pacific Ocean.
These images have transitioned to hula kiʻi, which involved using a puppet to share stories.
The Hula Preservation Society curated the exhibit Hula Kiʻi. Some hula kiʻi are carved and made of wood or other natural materials the artists could find.
The oldest kiʻi were made in the 1990s, according to Maile Loo-Ching.
"It is art," she said. "You're creating something from natural materials that's a reflection of you as an artist. You may be training to capture a character or communicate a story, but it's still a reflection of you as an artist.
The exhibits will be on display until December.
To see other exhibits on display, click here.
