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Commissioned by The Honolulu Mayor’s Office of Culture and Arts in 2021(installed April 2022), Adventitious Roots was my response to the call for submission—Aloha ‘Āina (love of the land). Coming out of the pandemic, we were faced with an adventitious opportunity to learn and instill the ways of Aloha ‘Āina for the future. We saw what a lack of overwhelming tourism could look like. We had concrete examples of how and why Hawai‘i should be more agriculturally self sufficient. The reasons to curtail and hold accountable military occupation were crystal clear. There was a window of opportunity to create lasting change. Aloha ‘Āina is all embracing for those who embrace it. It is a way of being and seeing through the lens of connection, the connection of all things.
The Hala (pandanus) tree is ubiquitous across Oceania. It is resilient, and all of its parts are utilized. Mo‘ōlelo Hawai‘i (Hawaiian folklore) is full of tales about the Hala being a finder of water and a harbinger of endings and/or new beginnings. In this sculptural abstraction, The roots are made of steel—the same material that has enabled the path from Mauka (mountain) to Makai (ocean) to be broken by skyscrapers. The trunk and fronds are comprised of plastics intercepted from the waste stream and community sourced through social media. The reclaimed and collected plastics represent the present state of our planet—ever-changed by our forced reliance upon fossil fuels. The solar powered beacon of light represents the possibility that our future can be brighter than our present. This sculpture stands tall and defiant because standing tall and speaking in defiance is our best chance at a better future.
*Adventitious can be defined as—
1. something happening by chance instead of by design: as in, the pandemic has created adventitious circumstances showing us ways things can be different, and better;
2. something coming from outside (not native): as in, Hawai‘i and Oceania have been inundated by adventitious forces for generations—colonizers, militarization, tourism, pollution, climate crisis induced environmental degradation, and sea level rise;
3. something formed in an unusual anatomical position, (e.g., prop roots): as in, as a human collective we can form adventitious roots, through community and collective relationships, to stabilize us during the unexpected, and generate sustainable resources for the future.