11th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

(left to right) Hina (detail) 2024 / Feathers (goose, turkey, marabou, rooster, ringneck pheasant, guinea fowl and Lady Amherst’s pheasant), aluminium wire, floristry tape, tarred twine, satin and organza, wood, cotton thread and natural fibre cordage / Nine parts: 4 kāhili (feather standard), 4 lei (feather garland), 1 ‘ahu‘ula (feather cloak); dimensions variable / Commissioned for APT11 / Purchased 2024 with funds from David Thomas AM through the Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art; Mele Kahalepuna Chun working on the kāhili lele for Hina 2024; Liane Davidson working on a kāhili ku for Hina 2024 / Photographs: Ruha Fifita NOTES 1 Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, ‘aumakua hulu manu (Hawaiian feathered god image)’, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa , <collections.tepapa. govt.nz/topic/1108/> , viewed February 2024. 2 Mele Kahalepuna Chun, interview with the author, 4 August 2022. 3 State of Hawaii, ‘History: The Hawaiian Bird catchers’, Na Ala Hele: Hawaii Trail & Access System , <hawaiibirdingtrails. hawaii.gov/history/>, viewed April 2024. KANAKA ‘ŌIWI BORN 1966, HONOLULU, HAWAI‘I LIVES+WORKS INO‘AHU, HAWAI‘I Hawaiians believed that the gods were born covered head-to-toe in feathers, and that, like birds, they could move effortlessly between Earth and the heavens. As descendants of the gods, the ali’i (chiefs and nobility) and kahuna (religious leaders, scholars and teachers) received their mana and authority through their connection to the heavenly realms. Handmade featherwork was used to symbolise and strengthen this connection to the divine, and, as such, was reserved for the highest ranking ali’i and kahuna. 1 Hawaiian featherwork commenced with the archipelago’s first inhabitants and is intrinsic to the identity and culture of Native Hawaiian people. Historically, featherwork was reserved only for men. Today, however, the practice has evolved to embrace female practitioners among its foremost proponents. The growing community of featherwork artists encourage innovation in thoughtful response to the evolving social context in which they practise. Mele Kahalepuna Chun is a kumu hulu — a recognised expert practitioner and teacher of Hawaiian featherwork — based on the island of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i. Chun made her first feather lei (necklace) at the age of five, under the guidance of her kumu (teacher/mentor) and tutu (grandmother), Mary Louise Kaleonahenahe Wentworth Peck Kekuewa (1926–2008), affectionately known throughout Hawai‘i as ‘Aunty Mary Lou’. The late Aunty Mary Lou was a highly regarded practitioner who contributed significantly to the reawakening of Hawaiian featherwork practices during the Hawaiian cultural renaissance of the 1960s. 2 As a third-generation kumu hulu, Chun describes her continued engagement with the art form as the fulfilment of her kuleana — her sacred responsibility to serve her community and honour the ho’oilina (legacy) of her family through the ongoing custodianship and advancement of this art form. Chun specialises in a broad range of techniques for making lei (feather garlands), kāhili (royal feather standards) and ‘ahu‘ula (royal feather cloaks). For the past three decades she has been committed to expanding the legacy of Hawaiian featherwork, not only by sharing knowledge of her ancestors with local and international communities and researchers, but also by working collaboratively with her students to refine and explore new interpretations and forms. Hina 2024 is an installation that brings the three distinctive featherwork forms — lei, kāhili and ‘ahu‘ula — together in a single unified arrangement. The work honours the stories and attributes of Hina, Goddess of the moon, one of the oldest Hawaiian deities. The balance between feminine and masculine energies is celebrated in Hina’s stories, with the moon understood as an ever-present creative force and guide to living in alignment with natural rhythms. In both form and materiality, Chun’s work symbolises the spiritual and practical roles that featherwork plays in the lives of Hawaiian people, and the significant contributions women have made to caring for the practice. Each of the sacred objects in this installation emerged from the meticulous and arduous work of cutting, arranging and skilfully binding together thousands of individual feathers. To achieve this, Chun worked with several of her most experienced students and collaborators, including Liane Davidson and Kimo Barrus. In traditional Hawaiian society, sourcing feathers was a carefully considered practice that aimed to avoid harm to birds. Kia manu (bird catchers) were trained in special techniques, such as smearing a sticky substance on a branch to help catch a bird, before carefully plucking a few feathers and releasing it. 3 Sadly, many native Hawaiian birds are now either extinct or endangered, meaning kumu hulu like Chun must source feathers ethically from abroad. Through Hina , Chun expands her collaborative featherwork practice in a gallery context for the first time. In re-imagining these sacred Native Hawaiian symbols of dignity, strength and respect, the artist seeks to encourage international audiences to reflect on the relationships we have to our ancestors, the natural world and the divine. RUHA FIFITA MELEKAHALEPUNACHUN ARTISTS+PROJECTS ASIAPACIFICTRIENNIAL 76 — 77