The title of Lehuauakea’s original art, No Mākou Ke Ānuenue, means “the rainbow for us all” in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Native Hawaiian language). Not only is it a celebration of Native Hawaiian language, but it also celebrates the perpetuation of Hawaiian bark cloth (Kapa) traditions and ways of relating to the land and each other. The rainbow in earth pigments is an acknowledgment of the diversity of Pasifika individuals, inclusive of and celebrating our Queer family within our communities.
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to celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month
Lehuauakea is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) interdisciplinary artist and kapa maker, originally from Pāpaʻikou, Hawaiʻi. Their work lies at the intersection of cultural reclamation and revival, addressing themes of identity, Indigenous environmentalism, and contemporary reconnection in the Hawaiian diaspora.
Celebrate Asian American Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month with this limited-edition t-shirt designed by Lehuauakea.
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#Lehuauakea #Māhū #AANHPI #Kapa
Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
0:00
my name is
0:02
i use they them pronouns and i am a
0:05
native hawaiian artist and kappa maker
0:08
kappa comes from the paper mulberry tree
0:11
the fibrous inside part is what we use
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to make kappa and through a process of
0:15
repeated soaking beading and re-soaking
0:19
and re-beading
0:21
together to create a strong paper-like
0:24
cloth and the finest kappa were to
0:27
create patterns and tell stories and
0:30
paint on the cup of we would use earth
0:32
pigments and plant dyes that i’d then
0:34
grind down in the mortar and pestle to
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get create like a very fine powder that
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can then be mixed with gum arabic so the
0:41
title i settled on is no mako
0:46
no mako means for us and keanu
0:49
is the rainbow so translated this would
0:52
mean the rainbow for us all we all need
0:55
to be represented in the spectrum of
0:57
pacifica identities there’s many
0:59
different expressions to our stories and
1:01
our experiences and they all have a
1:03
place within like this greater rainbow
1:05
this piece in particular references the
1:08
nihole manol which is the shark’s teeth
1:10
and that’s a symbol of kind of
1:12
fierceness but also protection and
1:14
spiritual power and then the kind of
1:17
wave and they undulate and kind of wrap
1:19
around each other just showing like
1:21
there’s so many ways to be who you are
1:24
and to express these different stories
1:26
the role of colonization has really done
1:29
a number on the significance that
1:32
non-binary individuals would have played
1:34
in not only in hawaiian culture but in a
1:36
lot of different islander nations around
1:39
the pacific if we can work to
1:41
address that discrepancy fill that void
1:44
with all the amazing different
1:46
expressions of our stories and
1:48
experiences i think that’s one way that
1:50
we can work towards healing that that
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void and that that gap there’s not just
1:55
one way to be hawaiian there’s not just
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one way to be queer there’s not one way
1:59
to be anything there’s so many different
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ways
2:14
you
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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