Lehuauakea

About Lehuauakea

Lehuauakea is a Native Hawaiian interdisciplinary artist and barkcloth-maker from Pāpaʻikou, Hawaiʻi. With a particular focus on the labor-intensive making of kapa (barkcloth), ʻohe kāpala (carved bamboo printing tools), and the use of natural pigments, Lehua is able to breathe new life into patterns and traditions practiced for generations. Through these traditional Native Hawaiian customs and gathered organic materials, their work addresses themes of environmental stewardship, Indigenous cultural resilience, and the intersectionality of an evolving contemporary Kanaka Maoli identity. Grounded in ancestral modality while advancing the medium to new, innovative forms, Lehuauakea aims to build on this tradition to ensure that this mode of Indigenous storytelling is carried well into the future. As the founation of their practice, has spent the last several years learning from barkcloth maker Wesley Sen of Moanalua, Hawaiʻi.

Lehuauakea’s work has been shown in exhibitions nationally and internationally, and collected by prominent institutions around the globe, including Portland Art Museum, National Gallery of Victoria, Queensland Art Gallery of Modern Art, Forge Project, and others. The artist is currently based between the continent and Hawaiʻi after earning their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Pacific Northwest College of Art