‘Eli‘eli kapu

Kapulani Landgraf, ‘Eli‘eli kapu, 2003, silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.2
Copied Kapulani Landgraf, ‘Eli‘eli kapu, 2003, silver gelatin print, 60 1⁄4 × 40 1⁄4 × 2 1⁄2 in. (153 × 102.2 × 6.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.2

Artwork Details

Title
‘Eli‘eli kapu
Artist
Date
2003
Location
Dimensions
60 1⁄4 × 40 1⁄4 × 2 1⁄2 in. (153 × 102.2 × 6.4 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Mediums Description
silver gelatin print
Classifications
Object Number
2022.46.2
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2022.46.2

Artwork Description

Kapulani Landgraf is a Kanaka ?Oiwi (Native Hawaiian) artist whose work focuses on the impact of colonization and land development in Hawai?i. In the 1990s, she spent years photographing the construction of the H-3 Interstate Highway, which eradicated swaths of natural landscape and numerous Native Hawaiian burial sites. Her witnessing of that destruction informed the making of 'Eli'eli kapu.

Pieced together from dozens of hand-cut photographic prints, 'Eli'eli kapu is deliberately difficult to decipher, from its title (reserved for those who know ?Olelo Hawai'i, the Hawaiian language) to its imagery, which the artist fragments, repeats, and alters in scale. Around a central womblike shape, powerful bulldozer arms zigzag through masses of Hawaiian sculptural figures. With their mouths agape, the figures seem to call out for the protection of Hawaiian land and culture.