PHOENIX — The Heard Museum has recently opened its doors He’e Nalu: The Art and Legacy of Hawaiian Surfingan exhibition exploring the culture of Kanaka Maoli, the native people of Hawaii, through the history and cultural significance of Hawaiian surfing. Curated by Carolyn Kuali’l (Kānaka Maoli) and Velma Kee Craig (Diné), the exhibition includes contemporary artworks, site-specific installations and historical material by cultural practitioners.
Centering Hawaiian Indigeneity brings a fresh perspective to this space, as the Heard Museum primarily showcases traditional and contemporary artwork from Southwestern Indigenous peoples. Yet the exhibit feels fragmented, in part because it elevates Native Hawaiian voices without firmly establishing the foundations of Kānaka Maoli storytelling.
Early on, viewers see Papa He’e Nalu I ka Wā Akua (Surfing in the time of the gods) (2022), a striking black and white painting by Solomon Robert Nui Enos (Kānaka Maoli), steeped in Hawaiian creative history. Here, akua (gods) posed on skateboards transmit the pony (balance) that is central to the human body and the rest of the natural world. While reflecting the nature of surfing as a spiritual and cultural practice, the work only hints at the role of cosmology in Native Hawaiian storytelling traditions.
Along one wall of an adjacent gallery, various types of surfboards made by Tom “Pōhaku” Stone (Kānaka Maoli) suggest the extent of surfing practices in Native Hawaiian culture, while appealing to the craftsmanship and the materiality of these objects. Hand-cut paper portraits of Native Hawaiian icons who have contributed to the sport and culture of surfing hang nearby. Created by Ian Joseph Kekoa Kuali’i (Kānaka Maoli/’Ndééh (Apache), the portraits oppose the marginalization and erasure of Kānaka Maoli, even as they frustrate those who seek to better understand the unique nature of the history of culture.
The featured video works are particularly effective in addressing the complex history of surfing and native Hawaiian culture, including the impacts of colonization and the blatant cultural appropriation evident in the Southern California surf scene. With its video installation on two screens Bikini and the bikini (2022), Nicole Naone (Kānaka Maoli) examines both the 23 nuclear devices that detonated on Bikini Atoll in the mid-20th century and the bikini swimsuit of the same period, raising themes of violence , sexism and commodification.
The exhibit also includes skateboards by seven non-Hawaiian Native artists, which reference surfing’s influence on “sidewalk surfing” and other sports. The bridges reflect an intriguing array of symbolism and materiality, and suggest the many intersections of Kānaka Maoli with indigenous cultures of the southwest. But they also signal a missed opportunity to further develop these relationships.
Nevertheless, He’e Nalu: The Art and Legacy of Hawaiian Surfing is an impactful exhibition, especially when viewed as a love letter to Kānaka Maoli surfing on Native Hawaiian history and language, and as a collective call to deeply examine how cultural appropriation manifests itself. in the wide range of contemporary life, not only in the sphere of surfing.
He’e Nalu: The Art and Legacy of Hawaiian Surfing continues at the Heard Museum (2301 North Central Avenue, Phoenix) through July 16. The exhibition was curated by Carolyn Kuali’l (Kānaka Maoli) and Velma Kee Craig (Diné).
