Carl F.K. Pao
b. 1971, Honolulu; lives and works in ʻŌlaʻa/Kurtistown, Hawaiʻi
Kiʻi Kupuna: ʻO ʻAilāʻau–Makahā
2022
Acrylic and shellac on canvas
Kiʻi Kupuna: ʻO ʻAilāʻau–Makahā
2022
Acrylic and shellac on canvas
40 x 30 in
The Kiʻi Kupuna: ʻO ʻAilāʻau series reflects on the return of the volcano deity ʻAilāʻau, who in the Hawaiian pantheon preceded the more popularly known goddess Pele. Over the last century, ʻAilāʻau’s story has largely fallen into obscurity. He has been consigned to the margins of memory, forgotten except by a few. The eruptions at Puʻu ʻŌʻō and the East Rift Zone–Fissure 8 in 2018, however, heralded what some believed to be his return. At the time, kūpuna and kumu hula within the Hawaiian community attested to having had dreams and visions that pointed to the volcanic activity as being the work of the older god ʻAilāʻau, rather than Pele. Even scientists acknowledged that the magma at the start of the eruptions was of a more ancient origin. This series of works seeks to repatriate ʻAilāʻau to the center of collective remembering, not as a challenger to the Pele narratives, but as a coequal in a more diverse and deeper storyline.
These works hold familial significance for the artist, Carl F.K. Pao. He carries the name Kaʻailāʻau from his father’s mother’s genealogy and his daughter is also named after him. To the artist and his ʻohana, Kaʻailāʻau is not simply a deity, he is their tūtū kāne. Thus, these works are at once about bringing to the surface hidden storylines, as well as celebrating and perpetuating ancestral connections.
Born and raised on Oʻahu, Carl graduated from Kamehameha Schools (1989), earned a BFA (1994) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Outstanding Senior Ceramic Student Award), and received his MFA (1999) with first-class honors from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Aotearoa. Since 2000, he has been teaching full-time at the Kamehameha Schools High School in the Visual Arts. In January 2018, Carl transferred to the Keaʻau campus. He was the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Asia and the Pacific in July 2012, and he concluded a successful group exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in July 2011. He continues to create art for exhibitions and various commercial and private art commissions.
See also | Ki’i Kupuna: ’O ’Ailā’au–Ao Makawalu.
The Kiʻi Kupuna: ʻO ʻAilāʻau series reflects on the return of the volcano deity ʻAilāʻau, who in the Hawaiian pantheon preceded the more popularly known goddess Pele. Over the last century, ʻAilāʻau’s story has largely fallen into obscurity. He has been consigned to the margins of memory, forgotten except by a few. The eruptions at Puʻu ʻŌʻō and the East Rift Zone–Fissure 8 in 2018, however, heralded what some believed to be his return. At the time, kūpuna and kumu hula within the Hawaiian community attested to having had dreams and visions that pointed to the volcanic activity as being the work of the older god ʻAilāʻau, rather than Pele. Even scientists acknowledged that the magma at the start of the eruptions was of a more ancient origin. This series of works seeks to repatriate ʻAilāʻau to the center of collective remembering, not as a challenger to the Pele narratives, but as a coequal in a more diverse and deeper storyline.
These works hold familial significance for the artist, Carl F.K. Pao. He carries the name Kaʻailāʻau from his father’s mother’s genealogy and his daughter is also named after him. To the artist and his ʻohana, Kaʻailāʻau is not simply a deity, he is their tūtū kāne. Thus, these works are at once about bringing to the surface hidden storylines, as well as celebrating and perpetuating ancestral connections.
Born and raised on Oʻahu, Carl graduated from Kamehameha Schools (1989), earned a BFA (1994) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Outstanding Senior Ceramic Student Award), and received his MFA (1999) with first-class honors from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, Aotearoa. Since 2000, he has been teaching full-time at the Kamehameha Schools High School in the Visual Arts. In January 2018, Carl transferred to the Keaʻau campus. He was the inaugural Artist in Residence at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Asia and the Pacific in July 2012, and he concluded a successful group exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in July 2011. He continues to create art for exhibitions and various commercial and private art commissions.
See also | Ki’i Kupuna: ’O ’Ailā’au–Ao Makawalu.
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