Exhibiting Artist Highlight: Lehuauakea

Lehuauakea, a Native Hawaiian interdisciplinary artist and kapa-maker currently based in Santa Fe, works with ancestral organic materials to highlight narratives of Indigenous environmental stewardship, an evolving contemporary Kanaka Maoli identity, and the teachings held in cultural mythologies and cosmologies. By building a personal relationship with traditional customs and materiality, Lehuauakea breathes new life into patterns practiced for generations and preserves cultural memory rooted in place-based practices. Grounded by ancestral modality while advancing the medium to new, innovative forms, including mixed-media textiles, large-scale installation, and kapa paintings, Lehuauakea aims to build on these cultural knowledge systems and ultimately share them with the next generation to ensure that these modes of Indigenous storytelling are carried well into the future. 

In the exhibition, I Mana Ka Moʻomoʻo, Lehuauakea recreates two very important historical documents, the Lā Kūʻokoʻa Flyer (after Black and Auld) which was originally printed in 1873 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Independence Day in the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi and the Kūʻē Petition which, in 1897, gathered over 38,000 signatures in protest of the illegal overthrow of the Kingdom.

Below, Lehuauakea shares about these featured works, Lā Kūʻokoʻa Flyer (after Black and Auld) and Kūʻē Petition I and II:

“These three works are recreations of important historical documents that reflect Native Hawaiian political engagements and movements for sovereignty and self-determination. Becoming long-lasting icons of these ideals that remain at the forefront of Kānaka identity today, they represent critical turning points in our history and the resolve of our kūpuna to carry our nation forward. 

Hand-painting each individual letter on kapa, I was required to slow my process and quietly consider the political movements that our people have continually fought for, and how much work there is yet to be done. By recreating these documents on kapa, I see these pieces as reminders of the resilience of Hawaiian language and cultural practices in the face of colonial assimilation, and the capacity of moʻomeheu to cultivate and connect our community. 

As a younger generation student of kapa making, I feel it is important to acknowledge the kūpuna and kumu who have carried this practice forward despite all of the challenges along the way. Without their dedication, I would not be able to do the work I do today. I am endlessly inspired by the strength, innovation, and resilience of my community, and hope to represent them well, no matter how far away from Hawaiʻi my work takes me. Since beginning my journey with kapa in 2018 with my kumu, Wesley Sen, I have been honored to not only learn ancestral techniques of working with wauke and natural dyes, but also innovate new ways of Hawaiian storytelling that reflect who we are as contemporary Kānaka Maoli. In these ways, kapa has given my life greater purpose, offered opportunities to give back to and represent my community, and tell our stories to new audiences.”

I Mana Ka Moʻomoʻo is on-view at the Donkey Mill Art Center Gallery until Saturday, December 13, 2025.