Artwork copyright Lehuauakea. Photo courtesy of the artist, by Mario Gallucci.

Artwork copyright Lehuauakea. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Everything Time Studio, 2021.

Ke Kā o Makali'i (The Bailer of Makali'i), 2021

Lehuauakea
(Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) | American, born 1996)

Location: North Hill Elementary, Des Moines

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Ke Kā o Makali'i by Lehuauakea (Kanaka Maoli / Native Hawaiian) shows one of the star lines used in traditional Polynesian navigation using the stars. The artwork is a nod to the Native Hawaiians who are using ancestral knowledge and bringing it back into our modern world.

The star line is known as "Ke Kā o Makali'i" or "the bailer of Makali'i." In Native Hawaiian cosmology, this star cluster is one of the most important culturally and mythologically. It is known as the Pleiades in western astronomy. Lehuauakea notes "We believe that the Hawaiian people were born from this constellation many, many generations ago, and this is well-documented in our star chants. Therefore, using these star lines to navigate our canoes across the Pacific, our ancestors were guided by their ancestors light years away — no compasses or modern scientific instruments needed. Today, there is a resurgence of Polynesian navigation."

This artwork is part of a curated collection by Asia Tail for North Hill Elementary, in Des Moines, Western Washington, in July 2021. The local art selection committee wanted art that reflects their diversity, their values as a sustainable green school, and the 5th grade experience of growth, togetherness, and transitions. The artworks show us that everything is connected. Asia Tail notes “Just as people shape the land, the land shapes us. How we treat our plant and animal relatives matters now and for all the generations that come next.”

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Highline School District.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Lehuauakea (Kanaka Maoli / Native Hawaiian) creates craft-based art that includes large-scale sculptures, hybrid installations, traditional canvas paintings, and Native Hawaiian craftwork. In their own words, "I aim to address subjects of mixed identity and cultural erasure, Indigenous resilience, and ecological decline through a contemporary Hawaiian lens." Lehua breathes new life into the labor-intensive traditions of making of 'ohe kāpala (carved bamboo stamps), kapa cloth, and natural pigments. Kapa is the traditional Native Hawaiian barkcloth, a non-woven textile made from the bark of specific trees.

Lehuauakea is a māhū mixed-Native Hawaiian artist from Pāpa'ikou on Moku O Keawe, the Big Island of Hawai'i. They earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting with a minor in Art + Ecology at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. The artist is based between Portland, Oregon, and Pāpa'ikou (Hawai'i).