We were lucky. After having dinner with friends at Chengdu Taste on Thursday evening, they suggested we check out the incredible art project by Jennifer Steinkamp that could be seen at Iolani Palace for only three nights. So off we went. It was fantastic!

This was one of those situations in which my iPhone was the best camera available (the only one I carry with me at all times).

Here’s an excerpt from the writeup for the project, which is part of Hawaii Triennial 2022.

For HT22 Steinkamp contributes a site-specific digital installation that references an Hawaiian historical legacy. In 1891 Queen Lili‘uokalani established The Royal Flower Garden in Pauoa, not far from Iolani Palace. After the overthrow of the Queen in 1893, the garden was renamed Uluhaimalama and became a focal point for her supporters, not only to plant and tend the garden but also to support the deposed monarch, despite it being illegal for Hawaiians to gather during that time. During the Queen’s unlawful imprisonment in 1895, flowers from Uluhaimalama were brought to her daily, providing comfort; a ritual that continued after her release until her death in 1917. In 1918 the provisional government destroyed the garden—knowing its significance and meaning for the Hawaiian people—dividing the land and, somewhat symbolically, turning it into several cemeteries.

Steinkamp takes the Queen’s handwritten inventory of flowers, titled ‘Flowers for Uluhaimalama’, which assigns a flower to each supporter, as the basis for her HT22 work. A newspaper notice of 1894, posted by then-caretaker Mrs Nakanealoha Mana, invited people to attend the planting, noting, ‘the importance of the efforts will be seen by having your name by your flower placed by the association; and you will also breathe in the bracing air of the upland forests.’

The Queen’s linking of particular flowers with individuals has a synergy with Steinkamp’s interest in the connections found between the natural and human realms. The siting of the work at Iolani Palace allows the audience to appreciate the relationship between the ephemeral, symbolic flowers, and the historical legacy of the building, in a sense collapsing the passage of time.

NOTE: This installation can be viewed from King Street from dusk to midnight February 16 – 18, 2022 at Iolani Palace.

Speaking of flowers, here’s a brief performance of Kaulana Na Pua, recorded in August 2019.

I recorded this on Friday afternoon, August 23, 2019.

This performance was part of “A Musical Journey Through Oahu Cemetery,” a program marking the 175th Anniversary of Oahu Cemetery. Four stations were set up in different parts of the 18-acre cemetery, each presenting a short musical tribute to a group of Hawaii musicians and composers who are buried in the cemetery.

In this short segment, Doug Tolentino and Beau Bassett sing Kaulana Na Pua, written in 1893 by Eleanore Prendergast. It was hot, humid, and by this time, raining. It didn’t seem to dampen their performance.

The first part of Tolentino’s introduction, which wasn’t captured on the video, explained that following the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, government workers were told they would have to sign an oath pledging loyalty to the new provisional government. The bandmaster of the Royal Hawaiian Band went to Mrs. Prendergast for help with music that could be a form of protest.

If you are unfamiliar with the words and their message, check this Wikipedia entry.

Also see, “Kaulana Na Pua”: A Voice for Sovereignty, Eleanor C. Nordyke Martha H. Noyes, The Hawaiian Journal of History.