Kalo for Kalo

Part of “Hoʻokahe Wai, Ho’oulu ʻĀina: Kalo and Community” a group show at the East West Center in Honolulu Hawaii

Ask anyone from the Pacific and they will tell you their connection to the kalo. It is a means for communities to convene, get to work, and look to the future. Amber and Kainoa's relationship to Kalo has inherently included sweat and physical labor. They have both helped to build, maintain, and care for a lo'i in Kahalu'u over several years. The process for making this kalo sculpture felt similar to both their experiences harvesting and planting kalo, clearing weeds, and the tiresome clearing of hau bushes. With its reweaving of the lauhala mats, shifting the heavy big logs around, and navigating the delicate balance between carving, balancing, and literal visual referencing-the making of the work felt like an appropriate method of construction that honors the hard work and traditional knowledge that goes into maintaining the longevity of a lo'i.
In Hawaii the kalo is the elder brother of humanity. Amber and Kainoa reference this by including two piko on the hā of the largest lau.
Thanks to their family for putting up with the noise and dust during the production of this work.
They are also thankful to Round Top Forest Reserve, Lagoon Drive, and Kalihi Valley for kindly letting us source the wood from these spaces for this work.