Lehuauakea, a Kanaka Maoli artist and practitioner of kapa, or Native Hawaiian bark clothmaking, felt referred to as to reclaim the observe — which was almost worn out by the 1900s as america illegally annexed the territory — once they moved away from house to Oregon throughout highschool.
Years later, Lehuauakea splits their time between Santa Fe, on “the continent,” and the Island of Hawaiʻi, the place they grew up. Lehuauakea gathers, soaks, and beats tree bark, normally from the wauke or paper mulberry tree, to create kapa, which they dye with pure pigments to type large-scale installations, textiles, and experimental mixed-media works.
Final month, Lehuauakea turned the second recipient of the Walker Youngbird Basis’s twice-annual $15,000 grant for rising Native American artists, which may even put together them for a solo exhibition on the New York Metropolis gallery Nunu Superb Artwork in 2026.
Lehuauakea made “Still Finding My Way Back Home” (2025) for the Hawai’i Triennial 2025: Aloha Nō.
The muse was launched final November by Reid Walker, a communications skilled and member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations of North Dakota. Muscogee-Creek painter George Alexander was the grant’s inaugural recipient.
Lehuauakea is among the many few kapa practitioners underneath the age of 30 working within the artwork type at present, in response to the inspiration.
Walker mentioned in a press release in March that Lehuauakea’s integration of ancestral custom, environmental stewardship, and themes of queer Indigenous id serves as a “compelling example of how Native artists are not only preserving cultural traditions but actively evolving them.”
A standard Native Hawaiian kite, “Lupe Hōkū (Star Kite)” (2023), made by Lehuauakea.
Along with revitalizing the standard observe of kapa, Lehuauakea advised Hyperallergic that their work incorporates textiles commemorating their Japanese heritage, which dates again to a wave of immigrants who got here to Hawaiʻi as sugar and pineapple plantation laborers.
Lehuauakea mentioned their present work addresses what “contemporary mixed Indigenous heritage looks like for someone with a similar experience to [theirs] in 2025.”
Kapa is made with soaked and crushed tree bark, normally from wauke bushes.
In a single set up, “Still Finding My Way Back Home” (2025), Lehuauakea stitched luggage of Calrose Rice, which they mentioned they grew up consuming, with kapa, Japanese silk, kimono materials, and cotton in a quilt-like work.
“So many of us come from plantation histories,” Lehuauakea mentioned. “I wanted to celebrate those histories, which can often be complicated and filled with assimilation, erasure, and family secrets.”
Lehuauakea mentioned that the $15,000 grant will particularly fund studio lease and supplies in preparation for his or her upcoming exhibition in New York, which can be their first solo present on the East Coast.
“I see getting this opportunity and support as bigger than myself,” Lehuauakea mentioned, including that they understand that many modern Native arts organizations don’t usually heart Native Hawaiian artists.
“I hope I can do right by this and represent my community well,” Lehuauakea mentioned. “And hopefully, I can encourage others to open future doors for other Native Hawaiians to be included in the conversation, too.”
An in depth-up of interwoven kapa, repurposed Japanese textiles, and classic rice luggage.
