Mai Hoʻohuli i ka Lima i Luna
July 13, 2020 — December 12, 2021
Features Hawaiian art from the Art in Public Places Collection of the State Foundation on Culture and the Arts guest curated by Drew Broderick, Kaʻili Chun, and Kapulani Landgraf.
Throughout Ka Paeʻāina o Hawaiʻi, this archipelago that many call home, it is common to begin any endeavor—whether artistic, curatorial, educational, or political—by acknowledging kumu. Keeping with this acknowledgement, and with individual and collective culturally rooted practices, the title of this exhibition is sourced from one of the numerous ʻōlelo noʻeau passed on in written form by dancer, educator, and scholar Mary Kawena Pukui (1895-1986).
Aia nō ka pono—o ka hoʻohuli
i ka lima i lalo, ʻaʻole o ka
hoʻohuli i luna.
That is what is should be—to
turn the hands palms down,
not palms up.
No one can work with the palms of
[their] hands turned up. When a person is
always busy, [they are] said to keep [their]
palms down.
Grounded in “Hawaiian art,” this exhibition of works from the Art in Public Places Collection reflects deeply on what it means to promote, perpetuate, preserve, and encourage culture and the arts in Hawaiʻi today. Mai hoʻohuli i ka lima i luna brings together works of art in a variety of materials—painting, drawing, and printmaking in oil, acrylic, ink, charcoal, plant dye, and soil; weavings and drapings of intestines and kapa; vessels from clay, grass, gourd, and plastic; carvings and sculptures in stone, wood, metal, glass, and post-consumer waste. Through this gathering of artworks, the exhibition highlights continuities and shared concerns across different generations of artist practitioners.
Artists
Bernice Akamine, Pam Barton, Wright Bowman, Sr., Sean K. L. Browne, Mark A. Chai, Kahi Ching, Kauʻi Chun, Kauka de Silva, Solomon Enos, Charlton Kūpaʻa Hee, Henry Hanale Kila Hopfe, Rocky Kaʻiouliokahihikoloʻehu Jensen, Elroy Juan, ʻĪmaikalani Kalāhele, Herb Kawainui Kāne, Clemente Lagundimao, Jr., Al Kahekiliʻuila Lagunero, Marques Hanalei Marzan, Marie McDonald, Meleanna Aluli Meyer, Harinani Orme, Carl F. K. Pao, Pat Kaimoku Pinē, Abigail Romanchak, Maikaʻi Tubbs, Hana Yoshihata.