Bishop Museum Announces Kapaemahu Speaker Series

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum announces the full schedule for its Kapaemahu Speaker Series, presented live at the Museum's Atherton Hālau for in-person viewing, and also streamed via YouTube Live. The multi-part series shares community discourse around the Museum's exhibition, The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu, and its central themes of gender diversity, Native Hawaiian health, and the power of monuments.

The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu explores the history and contemporary meanings of four large pōhaku (stones) on Waikīkī Beach. These pōhaku were placed long ago as a tribute to four māhū, people of dual male and female spirit, who brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi. Although the stones have survived for centuries, the story behind them has been suppressed and the respected role of māhū erased. Using immersive media and innovative storytelling approaches, the exhibition revitalizes this traditional story to help restore this sacred site as a permanent reminder of Hawaiʻi's history of inclusion and acceptance.

"For Hawaiian history and culture to be understood and appreciated, it must be seen from a Hawaiian perspective. In the case of our exhibition, The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu, this perspective centers gender duality, erased from a beloved moʻolelo (story) over time by foreign influences, as a natural and respected aspect of the human experience and a central element of the science of healing," said Taylour Chang, Bishop Museum director of public programs and community engagement. "Our Kapaemahu Speaker Series will further explore this and related moʻolelo with explorations of history, gender diversity across moana nui ("vast Pacific"); healing and cultural empowerment; the power of monuments; and a look at the era of Honolulu's Glade nightclub."

A full Kapaemahu Speaker Series listing with the cultural practitioners, scholars, artists, and community organizers participating is noted below. For further information and the links to the YouTube Live presentations, please visit BishopMuseum.org/Kapaemahu.

News media are invited to attend and cover the presentations. Due to space limitations, please RSVP with Lance Aquino via the information above.

The Kapaemahu Program Series is generously supported by McInerny Foundation, Bank of Hawaii, Trustee.

Kapaemahu Speaker Series | Hidden in Plain Sight: The History of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu in a Changing Waikīkī

• Friday, July 8, 20226-7:30 p.m.The curators of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu will discuss the historical findings and artistic choices behind the exhibition. The conversation will include new details about the first known written version of the moʻolelo, its loss, its rediscovery deep in a library archive, and its restoration — all in the context of the rise of tourism, militarization, and the erosion of Hawaiian cultural identity throughout the 20th century.Speakers include:
  • Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, exhibition co-curator, Kanaka Maoli teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader
  • Dean Hamer, exhibition co-curator and Emmy and GLAAD media award-winning filmmaker
  • Joe Wilson, exhibition co-curator, Emmy award-winning filmmaker, community advocate
  • DeSoto Brown, exhibition lead curator and Bishop Museum historian and curator of the Archives

Kapaemahu Speaker Series | Pacific Connections: Gender Diversity Across Moana Nui

• Friday, July 29, 20226-7:30 p.m.In Hawaiʻi, the creation chant, the Kumulipo, traces the origins of life to the combining of paired opposites: light and dark, earth and sky, wet and dry, male and female. In conversation with co-curator Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Professor Tēvita O. Kaʻili will share stories of gender duality from his native Tonga and other regions of Oceania, and Hawaiian historian Adam Keawe Manolo-Camp will discuss his research and storytelling initiatives to help revive Hawaiian understandings and histories of gender fluidity and same-sex relationships, including among revered rulers and nobles.Speakers include:
  • Adam Keawe Manolo-Camp, Hawaiian cultural historian, president of Indigenous Pasifika
  • Tēvita O. Kaʻili, anthropologist and dean of Pacific Studies at Brigham Young University — Hawaiʻi
  • Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, co-curator of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu, Kanaka Maoli teacher, cultural practitioner, and community leader

Kapaemahu Speaker Series | Healing and Cultural Empowerment in Kapaemahu

• Thursday, Aug. 4, 20226-7:30 p.m.Traditional healers will discuss the groundbreaking approaches that helped establish new ways of addressing the self-determination of a marginalized people through the means of traditional healing practices.Speakers to be announced.

Kapaemahu Speaker Series | The Past, Present, and Meaning of a Hawaiian Monument to Gender Diversity and Healing

• Friday, Sept. 2, 20226-7:30 p.m.This discussion will connect the revival of the story of Kapaemahu to the important debate on the meaning of monuments, memorialization, and the lessons of history, which has been at the forefront of national discourse over the past few years.Speakers to be announced.

Kapaemahu Speaker Series | From Entertainment to Visibility and Respect: An Evening with Legends of The Glade Era and Contemporary Counterparts

• Friday, Oct. 14, 20226-7:30 p.m.Entertainment offers one of the few avenues for gender-fluid individuals to gain employment, as well as a way to earn respect and disarm critics through humor and showmanship. This panel features legendary performer Brandy Lee and hair and makeup artist Aunty Harmony, who will talk about the joys, trials, and tribulations of performing at the Glade nightclub during a period of intense discrimination in Hawaiʻi; Fatima Reynolds, winner of the longest-lasting gender-diverse pageant in Tonga; and contemporary performer and community advocate Sami Akuna, aka Coco Chandelier.Speakers include:
  • Brandy Lee, Glade and international entertainer
  • Aunty Harmony, makeup and hair artist and māhu icon
  • Fatima Reynolds, entertainer and fashion designer

Bishop Museum Admission, Parking, and Hours

Timed General Admissions can be booked on the hour from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at BishopMuseum.org/Tickets. Tickets for Bishop Museum After Hours events can be purchased via this same webpage.

The safety and health of our visitors and employees remain our highest priorities. Face masks are optional but strongly encouraged. Learn more on our Health & Safety page.

General Admission

| | Weekdays | Weekends | |------------------------|----------|----------| | Adults: | $26.95 | $28.95 | | Seniors (65+): | $23.95 | $25.95 | | Youth (4–17): | $18.95 | $20.95 | | Children (3 and under):| Free | Free |

Hawaiʻi Residents, Hawaiʻi College Students, and Military with ID

| Adults: | $14.95 | | Seniors (65+): | $12.95 | | Youth (4-17): | $10.95 | | Children (3 and under):| Free |

Children age 16 and younger must be accompanied by an adult.

Bishop Museum Annual Membership levels include free general admission and parking for 12 months. Learn more at BishopMuseum.org/Membership.

J. Watumull Planetarium tickets can be purchased at the Box Office after admission to the Museum; shows are free for Bishop Museum Members, but must be obtained at the Box Office in person on a first-come, first-served basis.

Parking Rates

Daytime Rate: 6 a.m. – 5 p.m. $5.00 Evening Rate: 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. $3.00

Hours

Open every day from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed on Thanksgiving and on Christmas Day.

Bishop Museum Café by Highway Inn offers a limited menu of bowls, sandwiches, and snacks from 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. daily. Bishop Museum Members receive a 10% discount with their membership card.