The last ʻOnipaʻa event of the Spring 2018 semester will look to the future with the help of four Native Hawaiian thinkers from art, education, political science, and Hawaiian Studies.
One of the speakers, Page Chang, currently is exhibiting her kapa at the library
“ʻOnipaʻa: Imagined Futures” is scheduled for 4 to 6:45 p.m., Friday, April 20, in B155 (The HITS classroom located on the side of the James & Abigail Campbell Library). The discussion will feature a Native Hawaiian kapa maker; two University of Hawaiʻi-Maui College assistant professors and a Native Hawaiian artist who will discuss the interplay of the past and future.
Each of the four each bring distinct viewpoints, but each is rooted in an understanding of the Native Hawaiian past as a potential guide, or set of guides, into the future. The discussion of imagined futures and will include the pathways we might travel to arrive at them. The discussion participants are:
Chang’s kapa
Page Chang is Native Hawaiian, is a teacher, painter, and Kapa maker. She loves experimenting with wauke and other natural, native materials. She produces pieces from paintings to textiles to plastics, incorporating traditional Hawaiian and modern motifs. Recently receiving the Award of Excellence at the “Annual Hawaiʻi Craftsmen Juried Exhibit” for a Kapa malo. She looks to the ʻāina and the renewable resource found here in Hawaiʻi as a means of solving ecological and social emergencies. Chang was born and raised in suburban Washington, D.C., but moved to Hawaiʻi 24 years ago.
Kahele Dukelow is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi-Maui College. She has been a long-time leader in understanding and expanding the role of indigenous knowledge and education within both Hawaiʻi’s public school system and within the University of Hawaiʻi. She is also a leader in community efforts to end the construction of telescopes on Haleakalā and is a prominent member of the group Kakoʻo Haleakalā. She was born and raised on Maui.
Solomon Robert Nui Enos is a Native Hawaiian artist, educator, illustrator, and visionary. Born and raised in Makaha Valley, Solomon hails from the well-known Enos ‘ohana. His recent work reveals an extraordinary talent, adept at artistic expression in a wide variety of media including oil paintings, book illustrations, outdoor murals (both painted and in glass mosaic), and mixed-media sculptures. His work touches on themes of ancestry and identity, the human relationship with the earth, and the future of Hawai‘i, its people, and its resources.
Kaleikoa Kaʻeo is an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaiʻi-Maui College. He is well known for his synthesis of indigenous and non-indigenous political science, both in the theorizing of contemporary Hawaiian issues and in his activism. His activism has increased the visibility of efforts to protect Mauna Kea and Haleakalā and the legal role of ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi within various state bureaucracies. He was born and raised on Maui.
The ʻOnipaʻa discussion series is sponsored by the Hawaiian-Pacific Studies, History, and Political Science departments, ʻUluʻulu Moving Image Archive, the James & Abigail Campbell Library, and the Building & Bridging Native Hawaiian Futures Title III grant.