Kapukaulua, from the series Ponoiwi

Kapulani Landgraf, Kapukaulua, from the series Ponoiwi, 2011, hand-etched silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.5
Kapulani Landgraf, Kapukaulua, from the series Ponoiwi, 2011, hand-etched silver gelatin print, 23 78 × 28 38 × 2 12 in. (60.6 × 72.1 × 6.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.5

Artwork Details

Title
Kapukaulua, from the series Ponoiwi
Date
2011
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
23 78 × 28 38 × 2 12 in. (60.6 × 72.1 × 6.4 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Mediums Description
hand-etched silver gelatin print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — bird’s eye view
Object Number
2022.46.5

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. To create this series, she researched and photographed sacred Hawaiian sites that have been disturbed by sand mining. Each image documents a specific place where such an incident has occurred.

Landgraf uses a motorized tool to carve into the surface of her photographic prints, echoing the violence done to the land. The wavy lines in Kapukaulua, for example, reference the roads built with sand extracted from ancestral burial sites in Maui. In Pu'u Nene, the artist traces the outline of a now flattened site with the simple statement, "the heiau [sacred place] of Papa Nene, was located at the base of Pu'u Nene." The dispassionate tone belies the protest and mourning at the heart of Landgraf's project.

Gallery label, 2024

Works by this artist (5 items)

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
Eli‘eli kapu
Date2003
silver gelatin print
On view
Kapulani Landgraf, Puka mai, 2002, hand-woven silver gelatin collage, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.1
Puka mai
Date2002
hand-woven silver gelatin collage
Not on view
Kapulani Landgraf, Nā Hono a Pi‘ikea, from the series Ponoiwi, 2011, hand-etched silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.4
Nā Hono a Pi‘ikea, from the series Ponoiwi
Date2011
hand-etched silver gelatin print
Not on view
Kapulani Landgraf, Pu‘u Nēnē, from the series Ponoiwi, 2011, hand-etched silver gelatin print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.46.3
Pu‘u Nēnē, from the series Ponoiwi
Date2011
hand-etched silver gelatin print
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

David Levinthal, Untitled from the series Hockey, 2007, Polaroid Polacolor ER Land Film, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of an anonymous donor, 2017.32.194, © 2007, David Levinthal
Untitled from the series Hockey
Date2007
Polaroid Polacolor ER Land Film
Not on view
Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts, 2017, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund, 2018.1
The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts
Date2017
gelatin silver print
Not on view
Untitled, from the series Wagon Train
Date2018
pigment print mounted to dibond
Not on view