Kapiʻolani Park

Kū‘ena‘ena

Site: 5

Phase 2: Now Open

Graphic Sign Installation

Title

Kū‘ena‘ena

(2025)

Artist(s)

Koloikeao Anthony

Collaborators

Daniel Kauwila Mahi

Site: 5

Kapiʻolani Park

Phase 2: Now Open

Graphic Sign Installation

Title

Kū‘ena‘ena

(2025)

Artist(s)

Koloikeao Anthony

Collaborators

Daniel Kauwila Mahi

(2025)

Kū‘ena‘ena is a series of images that reveal the truth and brilliance of who we are, despite ongoing efforts to dismantle and misrepresent our traditional knowledge systems, ways of being, and histories.

Papa‘ena‘ena Heiau, originally situated directly mauka of this site, is an important heiau (place of worship) for Hawai‘i. Noted scholars believe that Kamehameha I travelled to Papa‘ena‘ena after defeating Kalanikūpule and his forces in the battle of “Ka Lele a Ka ‘Anae” (The Battle of Nu‘uanu), which marked the climax of Kamehameha I’s political campaign to unite the Hawaiian Archipelago under his supreme rule. It is believed that the captured Kalanikūpule was brought to Papa‘ena‘ena and offered as a sacrifice to Kūka‘ilimoku, the island-snatching god.

Similar to the pohaku within the heiau repurposed to build the rock wall surrounding La Pietra School for Girls, many images of Kūka‘ilimoku have been appropriated in ways that do not honor the original ki‘I and its manifestations, whether woven, carved, feathered, or otherwise. Kū‘ena‘ena re-establishes the connection between this akua in places it may have been found centuries ago and continues to shine as we tell and live our stories.

Kū‘ena‘ena

Daniel Kauwila Mahi

Kūkāʻilimoku is an akua Hawaiʻi that has the capacity to seize ea, pre-colonial forms of self-determination and liberation rooted in Hawaiian cosmogony. For centuries, Kūkāʻilimoku has been central in contests for governance over whole islands and guided many aliʻi (chiefs) on their political campaigns to rupture whole systems and provide protection for their makaʻāinana (subjects). Oral accounts of Kūkāʻilimoku were well-established and eventually published in archives such as Hawaiian Language Newspapers. Detailed accounts of Kūkāʻilimoku are especially prevalent in the writing of S. M. Kamakau. Excerpts detail that the dainty-sacred feathers named Hinawaikoliʻi from atop the forehead of Kīwaʻa, a legendary bird that was captured and slain by Waikelenuiaʻīkū, and amassed more mana after brushing the thighs of another akua named Nāmakaokahaʻi. Kūkāʻilimoku was then brought by Pāʻao to Hawaiʻi from Kahiki and was eventually in the possession of Līloa, ʻUmi-a-Līloa, Kalaniʻōpuʻu, and finally Kamehameha. It is said that whoever is in possession of Kūkāʻilimoku is destined to rule.

Kiʻi, often interpreted as tiki in English, are idols that are sometimes carved into wood, other times woven out of ʻieʻie. Kiʻi are vessels and images for different akua who require rigorous ceremonial dedications typically performed over the entirety of a night and consecrated on a heiau (traditional temple) in ceremony rites called kauila. After the fall of the ʻAi Kapu, Kanaka Maoli religious disciplines were supplanted by Christian practices, resulting in many kiʻi and heiau being burned and destroyed. The kiʻi that appear in this Wahi Pana installation are some of the few remaining kiʻi which survived the religious shift and similar to kiʻi that have been documented in ceremonies at Waikīkī.

Kū‘ena‘ena

Read the full research document by Daniel Kauwila Mahi

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Koloikeao Anthony

@koloikeao

Koloikeao Anthony is a graphic designer and muralist by trade. He is a product of his environment—not only of his ‘aina hānau, but also of his lineage. Growing up in a family of genealogists, filmmakers, and hula dancers, he was encouraged to figure out his own approach to telling the stories of his kaiaulu, just in his own way. Using art as his approach to making moʻolelo, Koloikeao has worked with brands like Sig Zane Designs, Shop Kinolau, and Poi Dawg to make art.

Photos: City & County of Honolulu