WAIOHAI, HAWAII

Something I learned putting this artwork narrative/package together is that Kauai is considered the ‘wettest place on earth’. Mount Wai’ale’ale cools the trade winds which condense as rain almost permanently and this in turn sustains an abundance of plants and flowers which blanket the colloquially named ‘Garden Island’ of the Hawaiian archipelago.

When I visited Waiohai Beach Club I asked the General Manager who at the resort would be best placed to talk me through the location/property and ultimately what makes it unique. He explained that the groundsman, Mr Lee was their most senior member of staff - born on O’ahu but moved to Kauai where he’s lived ever since. I asked if I could meet him - he kindly obliged. 

We sat together and I listened to his story. He’d been a bodybuilder, a surfer and owner of a homegrown Orchid garden. He explained that a big storm had blown through the island, taking his orchid garden with it - shortly after he took a job as a groundsman with Marriott.

Mr Lee was particularly drawn to the endemic and endangered plant species of Kauai - on a subsequent tour of the resort he talked me through all the species that he’s been responsible for bringing onto the resort which acted as a nursery of sorts - with the Kokiʻo keʻokeʻo his particular favourite. 

We collected seeds from the hibiscuses and I thanked him for his time. 

I knew from that point that the plant species he was safeguarding would be the ideal basis for our art narrative. Our resident Hawaiian Art Consultant Lehuauakea provided studies of some of the species which we turned into a rusted panel, meant to look ‘discovered’ from the red, iron rich soil the plants of Kauai grow from.

The statement piece which lives above the sofas in the resort are 60” x 40” oil painting reproductions of the Kokiʻo keʻokeʻo - a stunning composition of flowers which when partnered with the dark wood stain frames create a refined homage to Mr Lee’s favourite endangered flower we were looking for.