HAWAIʻI Ma uka to Ma kai: Quilting the Hawaiian Landscape Exhibition opening at Pitt Rivers Museum
The Pitt Rivers Museum is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition, HAWAIʻI Ma uka to Ma kai: Quilting the Hawaiian Landscape, which opens on 12 June 2024. This immersive experience invites visitors to delve into the rich cultural tapestry of Hawaiʻi and explore its deep connection to the land and sea.
Ma uka (toward the mountains) and Ma kai (toward the sea) are more than mere directional references; they embody the Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) understanding of care and access to natural and cultural resources within the ahupuaʻa, a land division extending from the mountains to the sea. Traditionally, Hawaiians recognized the interconnectedness between the land and sea, rainfall and vegetation, fostering a balanced ecosystem through sustainable practices. However, recent history has witnessed a disruption of these indigenous practices, leading to a decline in Hawaiian ecosystems and increased dependency on imports for sustenance.
HAWAIʻI Ma uka to Ma kai: Quilting the Hawaiian Landscape artfully weaves together narratives of the past, present and future ahupuaʻa through contemporary and historic mea noʻeau (skilfully created works). Visitors will embark on a journey through the exhibition, encountering the contemporary works of the Honolulu-based Poakalani Quilters, the innovative designs of fashion icon Manaola Yap, and the visionary planetary futurism of artist Solomon Enos. These practitioners embody a 21st-century sustainable stewardship, offering insights into the restoration and preservation of Hawaiian ecosystems while looking towards a future of abundance.
The exhibition features multiple displays and installations around the Museum, including a colourful display curated by members of the Remediating Stevenson Project, which combines contemporary drawings by Solomon Enos and British artist, Simon Grennan, with graphic adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Pacific fiction, set in late 19th-century Hawai’i, Sāmoa and French Polynesia, alongside late 19th-century Pacific photographs and artefacts from the Pitt Rivers Museum collections.
Music and dance also feature – the cultural dances of Hawaiian Hula and Tahitian ‘Ori play a vital part in religious ceremonies, social gatherings, celebrations and everyday life. They contain the knowledge and collected memory of its peoples, cultivated over generations and acting as a conduit between humanity and the divine. Using movement from Hula, ‘Ori Tahiti and contemporary motion, the London School of Hula and ‘Ori (LSHO) have created an original choreography, film and photo series for the exhibition, exploring the water cycle as the source of life and representing the intertwined and dynamic relationship between humanity and our environment.
“We are honoured to showcase the vibrant cultural heritage of Hawaiʻi through this exhibition,” says Marenka Thompson-Odlum, Research Curator at the Pitt Rivers Museum. “By exploring the intricate quilting of the Hawaiian landscape, we hope to inspire visitors to connect with the land, embrace sustainable practices, and envision a future where harmony between humans and nature thrives.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
Contact Details
For more information about the exhibition and related events, plus images, please contact our Press Office at press@prm.ox.ac.uk. Images must be published with the accompanying copyright and credit information.
Louise Hancock, Marketing, Media & Press
01865 613017 | 07553 433635 | press@prm.ox.ac.uk
About Poakalani Hawaiian Quilting
The Poakalani Hawaiian Quilting Class was founded by John and Althea Poakalani Serrao in 1972. The family’s mission is to preserve and appreciate Hawaii’s quilting tradition and to teach anyone who wants to learn.
About Manaola Yap
Inspired by his cultural upbringing as a native Hawaiian hula practitioner, self-taught fashion designer Manaola Yap translates Hawaiian spirituality and Hawaii’s natural beauty into prints that embody repetitious patterns found in nature. Manaola was born into a family whose cultural and artistic roots run deep into the volcanic soil of Hawai’i Island. His ancestors were hula practitioners and artisans of traditional Hawaiian textiles and dyes; more recently, his family has become known for its award-winning musical talent. Raised amid this tradition of creativity, Manaola stands upon the strong foundation laid out by his kūpuna (ancestors).
About Solomon Enos
Solomon Robert Nui Enos is a Native Hawaiian artist, illustrator and visionary. Solomon has been making art for more than 30 years and he is adept at artistic expression in a wide variety of media including oil paintings, book illustrations, murals and game design. A self-described “Possibilist” Solomon’s art expresses an informed aspirational vision of the world at its best via contemporary and traditional art that leans towards Sci-Fi and Fantasy. His work touches on themes like collective-consciousness, ancestry and identity and our relationship with our planet through the lens of his experience as a person indigenous to Hawai’i.
About the Remediating Stevenson Project
The project will produce the first ever multilingual graphic adaptation of the three stories from Robert Louis Stevenson’s Island Nights’ Entertainments (1893), commission new poetry by indigenous Pacific authors, and develop a set of accompanying teaching resources for use in Samoa, Hawai’i and Scotland. In addition, it will produce the first ever documentary film exploring contemporary Samoan perspectives on Stevenson.
About LSHO
London School of Hula and ‘Ori is a cultural dance school and community, that aims to uphold and reinterpret the practices of Hawaiian Hula and Tahitian ‘Ori within a modern metropolitan context. By accessing and platforming traditional knowledge systems that combine movement, myth, ceremony and community, we are able to create healthier and more meaningful connections to the self, our wider communities and the Earth and bridge the gaps between past and present, all of which is necessary in shifting the trajectory towards a healthier future.
About Pitt Rivers Museum
The Pitt Rivers Museum is one of the world’s leading museums of anthropology and archaeology, housing a vast collection of cultural artifacts from around the globe. Part of the University of Oxford, the museum is dedicated to promoting understanding and appreciation of human cultural diversity. Established in 1884, it now has over 700,000 items in the collections and is widely recognised for its creative programmes of reinvention and reinterpretation, which show a much-loved Victorian space challenging perceptions and demonstrating the vital role museums can play in contemporary society.
Open: Mondays 12:00–17:00; Tuesdays–Sundays 10:00–17:00
Admission: Free, donations welcome I www.prm.ox.ac.uk | 01865 613 00
