a multmedia series
In 1906, three digital frames matted with sandpaper express the harsh realities tourism has brought to Hawaii. In 1906, the Waikiki Reclamation Commission was established to plan for greater commercial development on Oahu, Hawaii. Native plants are shown engulfing popular tourist artifacts challenging the current narrative of a typical souvenir marketplace. The tourist souvenirs that were scanned and native Hawaiian plants were modeled digitally and selected for their mo’olelo (story): rebirth (hala tree), to sprout knowledge (kupu kupu fern), and steadfastness (a’ali’i flower). This project will remain ongoing until there is enough artifacts to create a wall full of objects (est 36 objects), thus creating a “living” wall of native Hawaiian plants.
1906 (No.1 ), 2023
Multi-Channel Animations
Hala, Kupu Kupu, A’ali’i: a Tree, a Fern, a Flower is an interactive media installation that visualizes the passage of time where the powers of consumption are reversed–where native plants overpower cultural commodification embodied in popular tourist souvenirs. Viewers become active participants of change, depicting a reality where native plants engulf popular icons of Hawaii. The tourist souvenirs were scanned and native Hawaiian plants were modeled digitally and selected for their mo’olelo (story): rebirth (hala tree), to sprout knowledge (kupu kupu fern), and steadfastness (a’ali’i flower). Participants are presented with a pineapple toy that they must squeeze continuously to trigger the plants to grow. Let these animations of native plants thriving teach us. Let these images develop within us the intuition needed to proceed further towards a reality that embraces indigenous life, people, and places.
Interactive Media Installation
Tree, Fern, Flower is a website featuring the physical installation in web form. Note the web version is optimized for a desktop web browser and will not work on mobile devices. View No.3 here.
Instructions: Use the mouse scroll wheel to control the growth of the native Hawaiian plants.
The digital artifacts in this series were scanned using the process of photogrammetry; and the native plants were modeled digitally and selected for their mo’olelo (story): rebirth (hala), to sprout knowledge (kupu kupu), and steadfastness (a’ali’i).