Mikuriya, Japan 2018
This residency unfolded through the Mo`opala process-Huaka`i, Manalima, Pilialoha and Mo`olelo. Each phase building relationship between people, place, and story.
Huaka`i
We began by walking the land and entering cultural spaces, guided by local practitioners.
Water was gathered as a gesture of relationship; not resource, but connection.
Manalima
Manalima is the power of the hand where the community becomes part of the work.
Through touch, participation, and shared presence, the mural is no longer mine. It becomes a collective imprint of those who were there.
There is no language barrier – only connection.
Pilialoha
Pilialoha is the joining of love through water.
The water that was gathered from the sacred Mt. Daisen is carried into the work, layered into the mural, and returned as presence.
What is created becomes a living connection between people, place, and memory.
Mo`olelo
Mo`olelo is the breath of memory.
Through voice, presence, and shared experience, the story is carried.
What began as curiosity became connection.
What was created became memory that continues to live.
Maunalani Resort Kona, Hawai`i 2023
I knew the name before I knew the place.
But once the work began, the distance between people quietly disappeared.
The work began the same way.
Hands touching the surface.
But the meaning shifted.
In a place where roles are often defined—
guest, worker, visitor—
those lines softened.
The wall did not recognize status.
Only presence.
In that moment,
Everyone belonged to the same act of creation.
The work did not sit on top of the space.
It moved with it.
Water from the natural springs.
Mixed into each layer.
Not to change the environment—
but to acknowledge it.
What was already there became part of what was created.
Not separate.
Not added.
Joined.
Molokai, Hawai`i 2018
Where everything felt familiar.
It was my first time there.
It felt like home.
The land. The people. The way stories were held.
It was a reminder.
That this work carries responsibility.
The work began the same way.
Hands touching the surface,
But here, it was not introduction.
It was continuation.
The connection was aleady there.
The wall simply recieved it.
The clouds gifted us the rain.
That water unifed the hands.
The surface was ready.
For the story to reveal itself.
