Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 8, 1 August 2009 — Hawaiian Hall to reopen with a Hawaiian voice [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian Hall to reopen with a Hawaiian voice

By Lisa Asato Public lnfurmatiun Specialist When Bishop Museum reopens Hawaiian Hall on Aug. 8 after a three-year $2 1 million makeover, the world's largest eolleetion of Hawaiian artifacts will display items on a rotating basis, some never before seen by the public, including feather work, kapa and textiles. "We want Hawaiian Hall to reflect Hawaiian voices - not a separate voice looking at history, but a voice that would eome from people who lived it and continue to live it," said Betty Lou Kam, the museum's vice president of cultural resources. "The effort is to present it through Hawaiian voices, Hawaiian viewpoints, Hawaiian inspirations for the future. OHA contributed $2 million toward the restoration of Hawaiian

Hall, where visitors will see the eontemporary mixed with the old, such as Kapulani Landgraf's photographs on the same floor as the newly restored, century-old Hale Pili. On the second floor, 19th-century kapa shares the space with video stations that will play historic film or eontemporary interviews of kūpuna and cultural practitioners. Among the never-before seen items to be displayed at Hawaiian Hall are the sashes of Līloa, a Hawaiian-flag quilt that Queen Lili'uokalani gave as a wedding gift to two newlyweds, and the Hawaiian flag that eame down on with annexation, on Aug. 12, 1898. In the month leading up to Hawaiian Hall's reopening, the wool flag was spread over a table in the conservation lab, where staff had spent an estimated 140 hours and counting to stabilize the material with a muslin backing and fine net-

ting on top. "The first time I had seen this, it really brought back memories of the (annexation) commemoration in 1998," said Kamalu du Preez, assistant cultural eolleehon manager. "I get ehieken skin on my legs talking about it. ... And the work that the conser-

vationists have done to make it so beautiful, it helps convey that kind of feeling." Conservation assistants have been working on a wide range of artifacts, from baskets to ki'i to T-shirts of Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana. "They're pretty niueh working on everything that has something to do with Hawaiian history, from precontact to yesterday," du Preez said. ■ For information or event updates, visit bishopmuseum.org or eall 8478511.

[?]

[?]

[EM. www.oha.org/kwo "A HANANA ■ EVENTS

[?]

[?]

[?]

[?]