a multmedia series
1906
1906 is an ongoing digital installation that examines the environmental and cultural consequences of tourism in Hawaiʻi. The work takes its title from the year the Waikīkī Reclamation Commission was established to plan for expanded commercial development on Oʻahu, marking an early moment in the transformation of Waikīkī through tourism and development.
Three digital frames, matted with sandpaper, present scanned tourist souvenirs overtaken by digitally modeled native Hawaiian plants. The plants engulf and transform these familiar objects, disrupting the conventional narrative of the souvenir marketplace and suggesting the possibility of reclamation, resurgence, and ʻāina-centered narratives.
The native plants were selected for their associated moʻolelo (stories and meanings): the hala tree represents rebirth; the kupukupu fern, the sprouting of knowledge; and the ʻaʻaliʻi, steadfastness and resilience. By placing these plants in direct relationship with objects associated with tourism and consumption, the work considers what might emerge when indigenous presence is allowed to reclaim spaces shaped by commercial development.
The project will continue to evolve as additional artifacts are collected and transformed. Eventually, the individual frames will form a larger grid—a growing, “living” wall of native Hawaiian plants that gradually overtakes the souvenirs it contains.
1906 (No.1 ), 2023
Multi-Channel Animations
Exhibition
Foothills Art Association
Digital Art Gallery
La Mesa, CA
July 10, 2025-August 15, 2025
and
May 15, 2025
Digital Art Society of Hawaii
Winter Exhibition
Chaminade University
Sullivan Family Library
Honolulu, HI
Dec 9, 2024 – Jan 5, 2025
Hala, Kupu Kupu, A’ali’i: a Tree, a Fern, a Flower is an interactive media installation that explores the passage of time and reverses the forces of consumption. In this imagined reversal, native Hawaiian plants reclaim and overpower the cultural commodification embodied in popular tourist souvenirs.
Viewers become active participants in this transformation. Presented with a pineapple toy, participants must continuously squeeze it to activate the growth of digitally modeled native Hawaiian plants. As the plants emerge and gradually engulf familiar tourist icons, the interaction offers an alternative reality—one in which native life reclaims the visual and cultural landscape shaped by tourism.
The tourist souvenirs were scanned and paired with digitally modeled native Hawaiian plants selected for their moʻolelo (stories and meanings): the hala tree for rebirth, the kupukupu fern for the sprouting of knowledge, and the ʻaʻaliʻi flower for steadfastness and resilience.
Through play and participation, the work invites viewers to imagine a future in which indigenous plants, people, and places are not peripheral to Hawaiʻi’s landscape but thriving at its center. Let these animations of native plants thriving teach us. Let their images take root within us, cultivating the intuition and awareness needed to move toward a reality that embraces indigenous life, people, and place.
Interactive Media Installation
Tree, Fern, Flower is a web-based iteration of the Hala, Kupu Kupu, A’ali’i series, translating the physical installation into an interactive digital environment. Designed for a desktop web browser, the work invites viewers to engage with the growth of native Hawaiian plants as they overtake and transform familiar tourist imagery.
In this version, the viewer uses the mouse scroll wheel to control the growth of the native plants, making the passage of time and transformation an embodied, interactive experience. As the viewer scrolls, the plants progressively emerge and engulf the tourist artifacts, reversing the familiar relationship between consumption and the landscape.
The work continues the series’ exploration of indigenous resurgence, cultural commodification, and the possibility of imagining Hawaiʻi beyond the narratives produced by tourism.
View No. 3: Tree, Fern, Flower
Optimized for desktop web browsers. Not currently compatible with mobile devices.
Interaction: 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).