I've learned through the years to take a photo here and there of my dad's pieces taking life. It's through the culmination of snapshots, videos and his oral recollections that I begin to understand the story behind each piece and his personal journey as well.
Always drawing inspiration for his art through personal experiences, childhood reflections, as well as his own idiosyntric beliefs this piece is no exception. At the footsteps of my Tutu Puaʻs hālau sat the ever sat the ever popular Kaliuwaʻa (Sacred Falls). As a child my dad recalls his Tutu Ladyʻs stories of Kamapuaʻa that were specific to Kaliuwaʻa and the areas surrounding it. Her stories told of Kamapuaʻaʻs mischievous expeditions and his brutefully clever escapes.
Children, as they will, tend to be engulfed by the mysticism surrounding Kaliuwaʻa and its once famous tenant. However, as age creeps so to does skepticism. So, as a young boy dad set out to debunk his Tutuʻs stories and see for himself if the proof she had offered was real.
Inspecting the falls carefully, as if heʻd never seen it before, my dad saw for himself the hog tracks creeping up the side of the mountain, left when Kamapuaʻa was escaping from Chief ʻOlopana. He saw Kampauaʻaʻs waʻa which held back the water until Chief ʻOlopanaʻs men drew near. When released it effectively eliminated ʻOlopanaʻs threat to Kamapuaʻa.
Today, his Tūtūʻs stories are comforting recollections of a time passed. As he weaves the same stories to his own moʻopuna the gap between generations is temporarily bridged. Thus this piece was conceived as a tangible recollection of his childhood.
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