Jennifer Goya
Remember Lehua, 2020
Website
When I was a child, I remember sitting cross-legged on the classroom floor as Kupuna Gora and Kupuna Wong shared songs, stories, and language lessons. Among them was the story of Pele and ʻŌhiʻa, a tale of love and loss. If you pluck the lehua blossom, they told us, rain will fall like tears, symbolizing the lovers’ eternal separation. From an early age, I learned that all native life, including plants, animals, and natural elements such as earth, wind, and rain, are living embodiments of Hawaiian deities, a belief that continues to shape how I see the world.
Remember Lehua began with the image of a lehua lei and the gesture of plucking its blossoms to call the rain. I wanted participants to see themselves reflected in that motion, to move, to reach, and to witness the blossoms fall like rain. Through digital artifacts and interactive movement, Remember Lehua reimagines the ʻŌhiʻa Lehua story as a living, evolving memory– one that connects mythology, ecology, and personal remembrance.
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