KALAOKE MĀUKA

HONOLULU (Feb. 22, 2019) —

Pu‘uhonua Society announces an exciting partnership with the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives for CONTACT, one of the most comprehensive thematic exhibitions of contemporary art in Hawai‘i, now in its sixth year. The show will be on view at Hawaiian Mission Houses April 4–May 4, 2019 and the exhibition opening will be Saturday, April 6 at 6:00pm at the Hawaiian Mission Houses. The annual exhibition explores the notion of contact as it relates to the Hawaiian Islands, its people, and their experiences. CONTACT 2019: Acts of Faith will survey dimensions of spiritual belief, in particular the spiritual landscape of Hawaiʻi, the relationship between cultural and religious practice, and the legacy of religion and colonization in the Islands. The exhibition will be curated by Ara Laylo, a Hawai‘i-based artist, designer and educator, and Josh Tengan, Native Hawaiian contemporary art curator, writer, and arts administrator.

“Hosting the CONTACT exhibition at Hawaiian Mission Houses is a unique opportunity to explore new ways of seeing the interwoven fibers that make the spiritual fabric of Hawai’i.  We are proud to participate in a discourse fueled by the creative and engaged minds in our community,” says Elizabeth Po’oloa, Director of Operations and Collections.

KALAOKE O MAKUA 

Projection, 2019

Post-Egyptian exodus, God provides Moses with instructions on appropriate promise land behavior: “The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers. Throughout the land that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.” — Leviticus 25:23-24

In this site specific installation, Nicole Naone pairs footage of the 1983 Mākua Valley evictions with oli corresponding to its ahupuaʻa. With memorization and a loud voice being key elements to the art oli, Naone presents them perversely via another colonizer art form- Karaoke. This imagery was projected onto the American National Landmark - The Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site, for the 2019 juried exhibition “CONTACT: Acts of Faith”.