An original 32" x 48" mixed media painting utilizing collage, acrylic, and wax, Let Me Hear Your Voice Again ships cradled on a birch wood panel and is ready to hang.
 
This work contains images of the endemic Hawaiian Palila, representations of antique maps of its home on Mauna Kea, endemic Mamane leaves, flowers and seeds, and syllabalic notes by Arah Ko who composed several poems about the Palila. You can read them in the Palila Project book which comes as a gift with the purchase of this painting.
 
Let Me Hear Your Voice Again is was created around the idea of makawalu. In Olelo Hawai'i, maka means eyes, and walu is eight. The word has the connotation of an abundance of perspectives. I wanted to see the palila with an 8 eye view, so I envisioned 8 parts of this project:
 
painting
poetry
photography
collaborative mural
biological research
sculpture
book
video
 
In addition to a multitude of perspectives makawalu implies infinite resources.
 
While we count the digits on our hands the ancient Hawai'ians looked at the 8 spaces between our fingers. The empty places could hold 8 fish tails or 8 taro leaves. Instead of absence they saw possibility. For them, 8 was a number of completeness.
 
My intentions were to portray the endemic Hawai'ian palila with rich possibility rather than the extinction predicted in its future. Currently there are less than 940 individuals. Part of your purchase of this painting supports Palila populations by planting Mamane trees on which they depend.