A Call to Hina

Accession — Container: 1

Identifier: ART-2024-11

Staff Only

Content Description

A very large mural-like painting on canvas, depicting the Goddess Hina of Moloka'i, a red and orange sky and swirling grey smoke, green taro leaves and water. Many handprints in a rainbow of colors appear in the sky, as well as arrow-shaped symbols. This piece was created on October 5, 2023 as a collaboration between the artist Kalae Tangonan and the staff of her visiting Molokai clothing business named Kupu A’e Molokai, along with students from Pacific University. They created the mural in response to the wildfires of 2023 that destroyed most of the historic town of Lahaina, Maui in Hawai'i. The medium appears to be spray paint and/or latex paint; it is applied to a plastic-backed canvas drop-cloth. An article titled "An Ode to Home" (Avari Schumacher, Oct. 12, 2023) in the Pacific University Index newspaper describes its creation: "At first, it was just the members of the group Kupu A’e Molokai working on the mural. But soon others joined. 'I didn’t expect anybody to really show up because at the beginning, no one was really around,' said Tangonan. 'Then as the day went on, we had around 30 students show up.' With so many students wanting to join, Tongonan had them use their hand prints as the background of the mural. 'The handprints in the mural represent something we call Manamana Lima,' Tangonan passionately explained. 'This represents your fingers and then it connects to your hand which is transferring up with your energy. We call it mana or spirit.'"