“INSIDE,” the exhibition now on view at the main and Ola Na Iwi galleries of the East Hawaii Cultural Center, presents an urgent and compassionate portrait of pa‘ahao — incarcerated people.
An official opening reception for “INSIDE” will be held at 6 p.m. on May 30.
The photographs, installations, video, drawings and writings on display give voice to a group often rendered invisible, thanks to the humanitarian efforts of community advocates Kai Markell, Kim Kamalu‘okeakua Moa, Kahu Kaleo Patterson, Robert Chang and Yola Monakhov Stockton, who bring illuminating stories of hope and resilience to life.
The exhibition also welcomes special guests from Turtle Island: incarcerated filmmaker Louis Sále of San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, and scholar Tria Blu Wakpa in collaboration with incarcerated Oglala Lakota elder, artist, and writer George Blue Bird.
The exhibition is wide-ranging, encompassing history and the present, and experiences from Hawaii and beyond.
One installation references the kia‘i (protectors) who were imprisoned along with Queen Lili‘uokalani during the 1895 Kaua Kuloko (the civil war during the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom).
Also on view are frottage drawings made by present-day pa‘ahao at the Halawa, Waiwa and Women’s Community Correctional Center facilities while working with Stockton.
Stockton, who is assistant professor of photography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, says that frottage — a drawing made from rubbing the textures of surfaces onto a piece of paper — “conveys memory, a meaningful place across space and time.” She invited the pa‘ahao to think of a place or texture they remember, or wish to experience, and create it as a frottage.
Photographers Markell, compliance enforcement manager at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and Kamalu‘okeakua Moa, director of narrative change at Hawaii Investment Ready, present powerful images from Makahiki ceremonies at Halawa Correctional Facility.
Their work captures the stark contrast between the prison environment and the enduring spirit of pa‘ahao as they deepen their connection to Hawaii’s sacred traditions.
The exhibition also features the voices of those inside Halawa, Waiawa, the Women’s Correctional Center, and the Saguaro Correctional Center through the Try Think conversation and literature program, facilitated by Chang and the Hawaii Council for the Humanities.
Nearly 200 handwritten responses to prompts like “You may think I am …” and “But who I really am is …,” invite visitors into deeply personal narratives. Reanell, an incarcerated woman, writes: “You may think I am … a drug addict running your streets; but what I really am is a human being just trying to change and become a member of society.”
“INSIDE” is on view now through July 25. For more information, visit EHCC online at ehcc.org, call 961-5711, or visit EHCC at 141 Kalakaua St.
Gallery and office hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and the gallery is open Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
