Archiving Lauhala, Hilo International Airport, Hawaiʻi
Reproduction
Download media
Object number6057
TitleArchiving Lauhala, Hilo International Airport, Hawaiʻi
Descriptionwoven glossy fiber gelatin silver prints from B&W 8x10" negative
Date2025
Current locationMS
Dimensions
overall: 16.25 x 20.25"
image: 11 x 14"
image: 11 x 14"
Acquired fromWailoa Art Center, "Hala Exhibition," curated exhibition (May 10, 2025 - June 19, 2025)
Credit lineState Foundation on Culture and the Arts, Art in Public Places Collection
Accompanying textArchiving Lauhala, Hilo International Airport, Hawaiʻi came about through a collaboration between Yola Monakhov Stockton, artist and photographer, and Mei Lin Wong-Gary, a weaver. The work is the response to a knowledge-sharing project organized by a group of artists and curators on Hawai‘i island and funded by USGS (United States Geological Survey), a scientific research agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior. The prints came from black and white photographs, which Monakhov Stockton creates and cuts into strips of varying widths. She then passes the cut prints to Wong-Gary for weaving according to lauhala tradition, a Hawaiian cultural practice most frequently associated with woven mats, accessories, and other household objects of 19th and early 20th century Hawai‘i. While weavers traditionally use the long leaves of the pū hala, or pandanus tree, which they meticulously prepare, in this instance Wong-Gary weaves mostly paper by responding to the images in the photographs, which depict the trees in environments around Oahu and Hawai‘i island. The two artists’ process incorporates dialogue, iteration, and improvisation.