Kauae Raro Research Collective

Kauae Raro be like, “we really needed this” - and it’s literally just prehistoric painting techniques 4 leisure in the wharekai.

Hope your Pātaka is stocked for the cyclone x

Lehuauakea is a Native Hawaiian (Kanaka ʻŌiwi) interdisciplinary artist and barkcloth-maker who works with ancestral organic materials in contemporary ways to highlight narratives of Indigenous environmental stewardship, an evolving Kanaka ʻŌiwi identity, and the teachings held in cultural mythologies and cosmologies. By building a personal relationship with traditional techniques and materiality, Lehuauakea breathes new life into pattern symbolism used for generations and preserves cultural memory rooted in place-based practices.

Grounded by ancestral modality while advancing the medium to unconventional, innovative, and tactile forms, including hand-stitched mixed-media textiles, large-scale installation, and earth pigment paintings on kapa, Lehuauakea builds on these cultural knowledge systems, ensuring the perpetuation of these modes of Indigenous storytelling.

Since 2018, Lehuauakea has apprenticed under well-known barkcloth maker Wesley Sen, who trained in barkcloth-making alongside practitioners including Puanani Van Dorpe, Beatrice Krauss, Malia Solomon, Carla Freitas, Dennis Kanaʻe, and Mary Pritchard.

A few weeks ago while I was in the UK, I briefly caught up with where we frantically shared links and earths and so much in common.

I love pigment practitioners so much, the connection with the land is like a cheat code to having a deep and meaningful conversation as soon as we meet!

If someone is asking “what should I buy you?” this month, I highly recommend Lucy’s new book ‘The Natural Pigment Handbook’ - it’s a great one!

Pictured: gifts of exchanged earth and the front cover of Lucy’s book 🌀