Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick (Kanaka ‘Ōiwi) joins Lauren Wetmore in conversation about Māhealani Dudoit’s fundamental text, “Carving a Hawaiian Aesthetic,” published in the first issue of ‘Ōiwi: A Native Hawaiian Journal – He ‘oia mau nō kākou’, which Dudoit co-founded in 1998. Broderick, an artist, curator, and educator from Mōkapu, Oʻahu, champions the text, saying “Kānaka ‘Ōiwi don’t have a lot of writing about our recent stories of art, so the few texts that do exist become more significant with time because they function as rare points of reference that we can all share when we’re reconstructing our own histories.” Broderick discusses challenges faced by Native Hawaiians around stories of their art within institutional settings and the role of writing in his own practice: “I’m an artist, but I have to write now because the work that I make, no matter how understood it is by the communities that I’m a part of, if it’s not written about it doesn’t really exist for a certain audience … Writing for me is a way to no longer have to waste time explaining what I already know.”

On the occasion of this episode and especially following the fires in Hawaiʻi, we encourage listeners to visit the Puʻuhonua Society and consider making a donation.

This episode has been generously supported by the Mellon Foundation.