Reviving the tradition of Hawaii grandparents, Lehuauakea re -imagines Kapa in bold fabric works – huge
“My favorite thing Kaba Lehuauakea (Kanaka Maoli), who recently received Walker Youngberd Foundation A grant for emerging American artists. Kabaand The original practice in Hawaii is used in the manufacture of fabric, the inner bark of WalkOr the berries tree, to create clothes and textiles. For Lehuauakea, this technique is the basis of a rooted practice in the Hawaiian dynasty and the physical traditions of the artist.
Sleeping the fibers is required enough to create a cloth dense labor to spend pieces of bark. Through an arduous process of multiplication and expansion with tools such as I am CocoThin tissue, flexible protruding. “It is a very flexible substance that reflects the current situation of the natural environment, the surrounding community and the personal hand of factories,” says Liwokia. “It requires a level of patience and perseverance while paying attention to the nature of the bark and the dyes that it works with.”
Kapa is derived from ancient Polynesian practices – called Taba In other parts of the Pacific Ocean – Hawaiian employees are on custom by combining watermarks, natural dyes, and fermentation.
Traditionally, Kapa has practical and spiritual characteristics, as it was used for daily clothes and bedding but was also pregnant ManaOr healing the power of life. When the United States included a controversial region and importing cotton in the late nineteenth century, this practice faded.
Lehuauakea appeared in Kapa when her family moved to Oregon when they were young. Over time, the artist felt a growing separation from their home and sought a road to evoke a link to the origin of Hawaii.
The artist says: “I remembered that learning about Kapa as a child and how we used patterns of storytelling, so in my age from college, I taught myself how to sculpt ʻhe Kāpala, or traditional bamboo printing tools that are used to decorate the final Kapa.” Then it was on learning how to make Barkcloth himself, with the help of craftsmen and teacher Wesley Sen, which sparked Lehuaukea’s passion for the means.
Fascinated by the possibility of continuing to continue the shape of the art of Kanaka Maoli, which has been moved for time, but also to experience and push the boundaries of materials, Lehuaukea is carrying out large -scale facilities, hand -mixed clothes, suspended mixed media, and hand -used materials, which are components of conflict. The artist continues:
As an original practitioner and cultural artist, I think it is important that you have a solid foundation in traditional knowledge of practice before trying to expand it or try more contemporary expressions of the means because I am not unique in this work; I simply my son on a tradition that has been passed through many generations in front of me, and I can only hope that I can inspire future generations to continue this.
Lehuauakea is currently working on individual exhibitions at the Santa Fe and Nunu Fine Art Center in New York City, exploring ideas on the original native cosmology, heavenly courses, and the relationship between the original Hawaiian language and style. Find more on the artist Website.
