Affirmation of creative resistance by Kanaka ʻŌiwi artists
‘Ai Pōhaku, Stone Eaters affirms our long-standing acts of creative resistance and persistence. Emerging collaboratively, this multi-site exhibition is guided by ongoing conversations with family, friends, mentors, and colleagues—all of whom have contributed to a larger movement toward self-determination within the arts of Hawai‘i. ‘Ai Pōhaku, Stone Eaters gathers new commissions, works in progress, and existing artworks by an intergenerational group of poets, painters, carvers, weavers, filmmakers, photographers, and musicians to help tell a story of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi contemporary art that began during the archipelago-wide cultural reawakening of the 1970s and continues to unfold.
Despite the abundance of our artistic expressions, it has been more than twenty years since a large-scale exhibition of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi art was presented within the University of Hawai‘i (UH) System. Aware of its context, ‘Ai Pōhaku, Stone Eaters addresses the exclusion of Kānaka worldviews from academia, specifically within the UH Mānoa Department of Art and Art History, and an overall lack of institutional support for Kānaka art across the Islands. Beyond the present educational environment, systemic racism and anti-Hawaiian stances underlie many of the inequities and associated challenges that we face daily. By advocating for Kānaka artists and culture bearers, this exhibition offers audiences an opportunity to form meaningful connections to our diverse work while ensuring that our stories of art are sustained in our ancestral homelands and abroad.
We are grateful to do this collaborative work and are indebted to the artists, curators, and educators who have struggled to carve paths for us to follow. May we continue to share stories of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi creative resistance, persistence, and the inevitability of our nationhood.
Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick
Josh Tengan
Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu
Curators
Mānoa, Kona, O‘ahu
Makali‘i 2022
ʻAi Pōhaku, Stone Eaters is made possible with generous funding provided by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, Native Arts & Cultures Foundation, Independent Curators International, and the UH Mānoa Art Department Admiral Grant, and Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). With additional support from the Hawaiʻi State Foundation on Culture and the Arts and Hamasaki Construction.
