8x8: Source | Punahele | "The Return" 

This fourth installment of 8x8 brings together eight visual artists and eight performing artists based in Hawaiʻi to create new work inspired by their encounters with Shangri La. Sparking a generative force to this year's exhibition, the theme “source” has been interpreted by these artists to produce commentaries on topics ranging from sustainability and ancestry to rising and return.
The exhibition features eight performance artist videos, illustrating a rich tapestry of perspectives and interpretations, offering insights into the nuanced history, diverse collection, unique environment, and intricate complexities of both Shangri La and Hawaiʻi.
8x8: Source | Punahele | "The Return"
Being a part of Shangri La’s 8x8 exhibition has allowed me to build with cultures that are on the other side of the honua. It has revealed to me that I can “hoʻi i ka piko” while mālama-ing other cultures and communities who face similar struggles because a source of liberation is solidarity.
This mele is about how most museums are colonial legacies and a repository of stolen artifacts, and how these artifacts should all be returned. It questions the overall ethics of acquiring pieces of art like an Ilkhanate lusterware mihrab in spaces like Shangri La. Students of the Hawaiian Youths abroad program in 2018 told me stories about warehouses in England that are filled with tons of Hawaiian artifacts. It hurts my heart to know that a vast amount of my culture is stored in private collections, and in the warehouses of colonizers. This mele calls for land back, de-occupation, and the returning of stolen artifacts to their ʻāina hānau.
Beat produced by BN5STAX
Song recorded, mixed, and mastered by Selecta Quality
Lyrics:
To do the right thing is to give the land back
The right thing to do is to return, stolen artifacts
If you do good, Then good will come back
The moral of this story is you are what you attract
To do the right thing is to give the land back
The right thing to do is to return, stolen artifacts
If you do good, Then good will come back
The moral of this story is you are what you attract
Donʻt Face me towards Hawaiʻi Kai face me towards Mecca
Whatʻs the ethics of acquiring all these stolen treasures?
Makawalu, so I see from multiple perspectives
How much of my culture lives in private collections?
From cherished grave sites, to sites of desecration
They use our sacred relics on their walls as decorations
Promoting exploitation, while we live in occupation
Once you reach a certain point, there is no salvation
A lot of horrors happen when greed is untamed
And when people lust for things that shouldn’t be obtained
If they knew better then they would be ashamed
They’re Attracted to destruction like a moth to the flame
Our intentions shine when we work to right the wrongs
Our stories will be told when the wind sings songs
At the beginning and the end, The ʻĀina has the throne
My people come from the lepo, this will always be our home
To do the right thing is to give the land back
The right thing to do is to return, stolen artifacts
If you do good, Then good will come back
The moral of this story is you are what you attract
To do the right thing is to give the land back
The right thing to do is to return, stolen artifacts
If you do good, Then good will come back
The moral of this story is you are what you attract
I not pau, so we ain’t done, I got mana by the ton
My kupuna always had love, for the lion and the sun
Unlike super greedy people, that act real trash to make some funds
Using CIA coup dʻetatʻs, just to full up oil drums
Kūʻē that, stand as one, and leave oppressors plummeting
Power to the people, Let us end corrupted governments
Listen up and she laments, see her tears fall to the ground
Lift her up donʻt put her down, every woman wears a crown.
Learn more about Shangri La and the 8x8: Source exhibition at: www.shangrilahawaii.org/
and @hi_shangrila