All posts tagged: Hawaii

Kalaupapa

The following post is probably the longest post I have ever written, and certainly the hardest.  I find it very difficult to talk and write about the things that are closest to me. This is a story that needs to be told, but I didn’t know where to start.  I guess I’ll start where the story usually starts for me, and hope I can tell it properly from there. When people hear I am from Moloka’i, Hawai’i, they have one of two reactions. Either they say “Moloka’i? Which one is that?” or they say “Moloka’i!?! Really!?! The one with the leper colony?” And it’s true. My island is known first and foremost because of its unusual and tragic history: because Kalaupapa peninsula was used as a place to banish patients suffering from Hansen’s Disease (to use its proper, medical, name), a place to isolate them from society for fear they would spread their affliction to the rest of the population. Moloka’i lies in the middle of the Hawaiian archipelago, middle in age and middle in …

Lookalikes

When I was little I always wanted to wear a matching mother, daughter outfit. It only took two decades, and me making it, but now I finally got to live out that childhood dream. That’s Mum and I, both in our ‘Aloha ka Manini’ blouses.  Her’s is two years older than mine: it’s good to see the fabric holds up so well!

Unexpected treasures: antique textiles at the Honolulu Museum of Art

When I go on a trip, I like to look back over my images when I get back and see what the first image I took was: the first thing that inspired me to pull out my camera and commemorate it. This is my first photograph from my recent trip to Hawaii: It’s an 18th century shoe in the textile store at the Honolulu Museum of Art. I love this.   It’s so typically me: the first thing I wanted to do on Oahu was go to the HMA, and the first thing I immortalised was a 250 year old shoe — not the usual Hawai’i image at all! I’m lucky enough to know the director of the Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Art), and he really wanted me to meet the textile curator and tour the textile store.   Was I interested?   Are you kidding!   Of course! I thought the HMA textile collection would be very Hawai’i focused — all Hawaiian quilts, vintage holoku, kapa (barkcloth) and woven …