Exhibitions
Bishop Museum Announces New Exhibition, “The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu”
# Bishop Museum Announces New Exhibition, "The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu"
Original exhibition will explore the hidden history and contemporary meanings of four large pōhaku (stones) on Waikīkī Beach, through Hawaiian understandings of gender, healing, and inclusion. These pōhaku, The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu, are one of the rare public monuments to gender fluidity.
Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum announces a new, original exhibition coming to its Castle Memorial Building in June: The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu. The exhibition emerged from the research behind an Oscar-contending short film, Kapaemahu, that brought the unexpurgated legend to life.
The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu will explore 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.
"This exhibition presents our Hawaiian view of gender duality as a natural aspect of the human experience," said Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, a curator of the exhibition who herself identifies as māhū. "It brings knowledge and wisdom of the past into the present-day conversation."
The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu will be a multifaceted exhibition that combines film, art, archival documents, and images, storytelling, and other interactive elements, sharing that for Hawaiian history and culture to be understood and appreciated, it must be seen from a Hawaiian perspective. In the case 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.
In presenting the original moʻolelo, and examining the ways in which it, and the monument erected to honor its heroes, were altered in the 20th century, the exhibition also challenges visitors to ponder how other aspects of Hawaiian history and culture might have been suppressed, changed, or lost. More importantly, visitors will understand that these aspects of Hawaiian culture now have the opportunity to be restored and elevated.
Media Preview Opportunity on Thursday, June 16, 2022
Bishop Museum invites members of the media to attend an exclusive, pre-opening, closed-door Media Preview of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu:
- Thursday, June 16, 2022
- 1-4 p.m. HST
- Bishop Museum, Castle Memorial Center
- Please RSVP with Lance Aquino via the contact information above
Interview opportunities:
- Bishop Museum Vice President of Public Programs, Brandon Bunag
- Exhibition Lead Curator DeSoto Brown, Bishop Museum historian
- Exhibition Curator Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Kanaka Pakipika, Cultural Expert
- Exhibition Curator Dean Hamer, Kanaka Pakipika/Qwaves, Lead Researcher
- Exhibition Curator Joe Wilson, Kanaka Pakipika/Qwaves, Producer/Director
- Exhibition Designer, Michael Wilson
For more information, please visit BishopMuseum.org/Kapaemahu.
About Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, the State of Hawaiʻi Museum of Natural and Cultural History
Bishop Museum’s mission is to inspire our community and visitors through the exploration, celebration, and perpetuation of the extraordinary history, culture, and environment of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific. The Museum was founded in 1889 by Charles Reed Bishop in memory of his wife Bernice Pauahi Bishop, a royal descendant of King Kamehameha I. Today, the Museum thrives as an educational center for the community and is widely regarded as the world’s premier institution for Hawaiian and Pacific content.
Bishop Museum’s vast collections of more than 25 million objects and specimens represent nine disciplines and include more than 22 million biological specimens, over 2 million cultural objects, 115,000 historical publications, and 1 million photographs, films, works of art, audio recordings, and manuscripts. These collections tell the stories of the cultures and biodiversity of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific as well as the proud legacy of scholarly research spanning 130 years.
Bishop Museum proudly serves more than 200,000 visitors each year, including 20,000 children on school visits. Guests are encouraged to pre-plan their trip to #HawaiisMuseum with its free digital guide, available through Bloomberg Connects.
To learn more about the Museum’s research, collections, exhibits, and programs, visit BishopMuseum.org, follow @BishopMuseum on Facebook and Instagram, visit Bishop Museum’s YouTube channel, or call (808) 847-3511. Bishop Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.
Bishop Museum is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer, and welcomes applicants from the military, veterans, and those with disabilities. Learn about careers at Bishop Museum at BishopMuseum.org/Careers and on its LinkedIn page.
Bishop Museum Press is Hawaiʻi’s oldest book publisher and one of the first scholarly publishers in the Western Hemisphere, and has published over 1,200 titles and distributed over 1 million books in 72 countries worldwide. Bishop Museum hosts a restaurant and gift shop on campus, Tūtū’s Place by Highway Inn and Shop Pacifica by Nā Mea Hawaiʻi.