Hina Hanai a ka Malama (Hina Nourished by the Moon)

Hina Hanai a ka Malama (Hina Nourished by the Moon)

48” x48”

mixed media on board

Like the character arc in a fairytale, Hina Hanai a ka Malama moved from a vague idea to the temptation to stop too soon, became seemingly ruined, and at last harmonious.

At first I didn’t know this painting was going to be about Hina who is a mythical Eve-like figure in Hawaiian folklore. All I could imagine were triangles.

I read about the North Star pattern in quilt-making which was used to help escaping slaves on their perilous journey north. Sympathizers would hang this quilt on their clothesline or gate with the top triangles facing north to point the way toward freedom.

I really liked the origami red version of this painting however, as artist Richard Diebenkorn wrote in his Notes on Beginning a Painting. “The pretty, initial position which falls short of completeness is not to be valued – except as a stimulus for further moves.” I was curious where this was leading and kept adding layers of paint including very thick textures much like tapa cloth.

I was reading about Hina’s associations with tapa, the shore, spiny sea creatures, the moon and I began to incorporate them. I realized that the hull of the canoe was too central and my colors too masculine so I started lighting and balancing the work.

The very top layer contains a ship sail, a mother in labor, a centipede, and a fisherman inspired by petroglyphs carved into the lava rock, but mine are white and delicate. I kept loosing and repainting the rainbows and white lines.

Intuitively I added in 4 giant waning moons and later discovered that the waning moon is not diminishing/sad/loss as is it in the western mind but it means an occasion for rest and even preparation for abundance to people of Hawaii.

In one story, Hina is exhausted working for her unkind and unappreciative husband. She tries to change her situation but cannot, so the rainbow secretly makes a path for her to escape to the moon. She is there now happily pounding her kapa cloth. This is where the title originates.

As so often happens, after a long process I come back to my initial hunch about what this should be, back to the beginning of my triangles, only in this story it is Hina escaping a kind of slavery, standing in for all of us in a world that values production and utility above being and relationships. It also speaks to women’s empowerment and the Hawaiian sovereignty movement.

I hope that the art helps point toward freedom and love.

See Hina Hanai a ka Malama at Viewpoints Gallery in person if you’re on Maui.

This was written entirely by Sarah Taylor Ko without the aid of any sort of AI. NO AI TRAINING: without in any way limiting the author’s exclusive rights under copyright, any use of this blog to train generative intelligence (AI) technologies or generate text is expressly prohibited.

#hina #hawaiiart #originalartwork #fineart