A friend of mine approached me about the design competition for the National Native American Veteran's Memorial, She said that the local committee who I believe was represented by members of Congress and Hawaiian leaders were worried there would be no Hawaiian representation. She had no idea what to do.
I looked at the Museum for the Native American and found that it was made using western materials and the idea of ensconcing history. The prospectus for the project had similar limitations because I immediately thought they wanted a bronze or marble monolithic sculpture when I read it. While the museum and the competition rules had some Native sensibilities, it left me wanting.
A day later I came back to her with an idea. Hawaiians and many other aboriginal people built from stone and earth. Kahokia Mounds and our own heiau have been around for centuries.
I mentioned the problem of the memorial to another friend. He immediately responded, "Turtle Island. . . Just look it up."
These two conversations led to this opening statement to my proposal:
Strife decimated the people. Water flooded and cleansed Earth. With no land to live on, the people took turns diving for soil in the depths. After many failures, soil was found and placed on turtle’s back. The land was renewed. Balance restored. As in the past, each of us will be called to reach into the depths of our souls and bring a piece of earth to our capital where we can build a beacon for the souls of not just those we have lost but our own.
The nation will pray for stones to create a foundation. Veterans, families, and friends will pray for small stones, coral fingers, soil, and water to bring from their homes and battlefields to surface the memorial.
In the fall we will transport and assemble the materials by traditional means as feasible. As one we will build a memorial dedicated to warriors who have given themselves to preserve their nation. From the North, South, East, and West we will pray for four tall, straight trees for a tower representing the great tree- a conduit between earth, heaven, present and past. Clothed in white on Veterans’ and Memorial Day it glows in the sun. At sunrise we will pave the memorial with pebbles representing our veterans.
The last stone shall be placed at sunset. As darkness comes our galaxy will be projected upon the memorial (or city lights dimmed). Heaven is reflected on earth. The stones representing our veterans are the stars that fill the sky.
I hoped to construct a living structure that was built in the old way through the cooperation of the entire community with the guidance of the ancestors, maintained in the old way, and transmitted our ways into the future.
The design connected the 4 directions and aligned with the solstices AND the rising and setting sun on both Memorial and Veterans Day. I also connected heaven and earth, present and the past by using metaphors representing stories that addressed many cultures.
Once the design was completed, I had 100% confidence in my submission that it aligned with all that it was to be a Hawaiian and one of the first peoples. 413 other artists submitted their ideas anonymously. 5 were chosen to go on. The smithsonian's press release is here: https://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/national-native-american-veterans-memorial-finalists-announced. On February 7th, there will be a live webcast where the winners will speak about their proposals.
Going in with great confidence, I was shattered by not being selected not so much for myself but for the community. At the same time I don't feel like I lost. It took all that I had learned from the time I was in the 4th grade walking about the Big Island on a school field trip, then at Kamehameha, and finally studying and participating with kupuna and my peers. I did my best to create a project that would bring the community together on an annual basis that would not only promote a sense of unity and healing but promulgate native thought and traditions. It is my hope that by sharing my ideas we can move forward to create a better society.
