‘Umeke Lā‘au Presented by Hawaiʻi Contemporary
February 14 – May 9, 2025
Honolulu Hale

Opening Reception: February 14, 2025, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. 

Multimedia artist, visual poet, and educator, Meleanna Aluli Meyer is a translator of ʻike Hawaiʻi, who imparts native wisdom through kaona (metaphor). She has cultivated deep connections to wahi pana (place) and has dedicated her practice to re-growing, re-pairing, and re-establishing ancestral traditions of her kumu (teachers), kūpuna (elders), and ʻaumakua (ancestors). Rooted in pilina (relationships), her work guides viewers to confront historical trauma around personal and collective healing.

‘Umeke Lā‘au: Culture Medicine is a sculptural calabash symbolizing care and cultural practice. A Hawaiian place of learning, this installation is a gathering space for all to experience art and culture as a form of medicine and healing. The accompanying audio voices the names of tens of thousands of Hawaiians who signed the Kūʻē Petitions in 1897, which resoundingly protested the illegal annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States “in any form or shape”.

Collaborators: Kainoa Gruspe + Amber Khan (design + construction); Alec Singer (audio design + engineer); Apana ʻohana (transcription); Baker ʻohana (ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi + voiceover); Dean Cromwell (Hawaiʻi Community College instructor + 17 carpentry students); Kaili Chun (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa professor + art students); community members who contributed their love, labor + support.

Reserve the ʻumeke for your meetings or gatherings by completing the online form! For questions regarding scheduling, please contact the Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts at moca-info@honolulu.gov or call 808-768-6622.

For more information, visit the Hawai’i Contemporary website.

Honolulu Hale is open Monday through Friday 7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.