Emergence – Puka Mai
Wahineka‘iu Rie Sharon Lum Ho
Curated by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui
August 25-September 6, 2026
THE COMMONS GALLERY, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Emergence is the process of an entity coming into view or coming into existence, something that appears when the parts interact in a wider whole. To emerge is to become manifest, to become known, to rise from, to come into view. Emergence is the foundation of life itself. This solo exhibition, Emergence – Puka Mai, features multimedia works of Wahineka‘iu Rie Sharon Lum Ho. It spans several decades of her art practice, which primarily draws on Kumulipo, a Hawaiian cosmogony in the form of a chant (c.1700) of over 2,100 lines comprising 16 wā (epochs).
Queen Lili‘uokalani produced a translation of this account of the origin of the universe while under house arrest at ‘Iolani Palace in 1895 (it was subsequently published in 1897 and has been reissued since). She attributed its composition to a haku mele by the name of Keaulumoku. Although often referred to as “the” Kumulipo, the Queen was careful to title it He Kumulio (A Kumulipo), suggesting it is one account among others. Nonetheless, this epic chant – which moves from the emergence of sea creatures to insects, land plants, animals, and eventually human beings – delineates complicated interrelationships and enumerates thousands of deities and ancestors. Lum Ho explains that what draws her back to this legendary genealogy time and again through her art practice is: “It begins in deep darkness and moves to light, to the beginnings of life forms, the cyclical nature of evolution and the profundity of dualisms connected to the universe. The oneness of all inspires me; we are observers and stewards of emergence.”
Although puka is popularly understood as a Hawaiian word for a hole, it also means emergence. The latter definition comes through in the phrase “to puka through” (the vernacular way of speaking to emergence within Hawaiian Creole English, known locally as pidgin), to pass through an opening. In some ways, Lum Ho is experiencing her own (re)emergence as a visual artist after a long pause in her practice. This exhibition features her most recent work of watercolor, pencil, and ink drawings of the 16 wā, along with two of her earliest oil paintings, which are also renditions of Kumulipo. Additionally, the wood board panels on display speak to the theme of emergence. Produced in 1993, they evoke the political (re)emergence of Kānaka Maoli in articulating a fierce and collective Hawaiian nationalist voice centering the centennial of the US-backed overthrow of the monarchy.
Text by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui
Artist Statement
“'Our ancestors are crying.' Haunani-Kay Trask said this to me in a phone call in 1993. It led to a decades-long search for its meaning. The images in this exhibit give voice to our kūpuna and explain why they are crying. Centuries ago, our kūpuna etched dots, circles, lines and formed figures in pōhaku to tell their story. I follow in their footsteps. I am a kaha kiʻi, an image maker and portray our mele koi honua, Kumulipo, all 2,102 lines composed in the oral tradition. My images exist in their own time, but they speak of the everlasting values of those who came before us, urging us to move forward and never give up. Kūʻē a me Aloha 'oe!"
Visual Artist
Wahinekaʻiu Rie Sharon Lum Ho (b. 1949, Tokyo, Japan) is a kanaka artist who grew up in Wailuku, Maui and currently resides in Honolulu, Oʻahu. She received her BFA from the University of Hawaiʻi, Manoa in 1971, an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1979, and a Juris Doctorate from John F. Kennedy School of Law in 2001. Lum Ho moved to Berkeley, California in 1991, and continued to produce artwork and exhibited regionally. While residing there, she became involved in the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and founded the Bay Area Chapter of Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi. She moved back to Hawai’i in 2003 and that same year, began work as part of a team on the Kiaʻi ʻĀina, Ceded Lands Project – a collaboration with Pono Kaulike, Inc., Ka Lāhui Hawaiʻi, and the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawai‘i, Mānoa (UHM). In 2005, Lum Ho began work as a Senate committee clerk at the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. In 2010, she was a democratic candidate for District 31 in the Hawaiʻi House of Representatives. In 2023, she worked for The State Department of Budget & Finance. After 20 years devoted to the people of Hawaiʻi, she retired. Lum Ho returned to her art practice, which includes constructing nā papahe‘enalu (surfboards).
Curator
J. Kēhaulani Kauanui is a budding art curator, seasoned radio producer, and established activist-scholar. She is the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Professor of Indigenous Studies in the Effron Center for the Study of America at Princeton University. Along with numerous articles, Kauanui is the author of two book monographs – Hawaiian Blood (DUP 2008) and Paradoxes of Hawaiian Sovereignty: Land, Sex, and the Colonial Politics of State Nationalism (DUP 2018) – and the edited volume Speaking of Indigenous Politics: Conversations with Activists, Scholars, and Tribal Leaders (UMP 2018). She is one of the six co-founders of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (established in 2008) and is the recipient of the 2022 Indigenous History Lifetime Achievement Award by the Western History Association. Kauanui is currently working on several editorial projects, including: a book of interviews with Hawaiian nationalists active from the 1980s through the mid-1990s regarding gender dynamics on the movement; a volume on settler colonial fascism; a co-edited project on the recovery of Wangunk tribal history; and a special issue of Biography journal on global indigeneities through life-writing.
Opening Reception
Saturday, August 29, 2026 12:00 noon - 4:00pm with Artist-Curator Dialogue featuring Wahineka‘iu Rie Sharon Lum Ho and J. Kēhaulani Kauanui at 2:00pm (Commons Gallery)
Cover image: Wahineka‘iu Rie Sharom Lum Ho, Kumulipo, 2024
Photo by Sheika Alghezawi
THE COMMONS GALLERY is located on the ground floor of The Art Building. From Dole Street, take East-West Road, turn left to Correa Road, and then turn right for the Art Building.
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