Green Dreamer Podcast

I had the pleasure of creating two artworks for Kamea Chayne’s Green Dreamer, a podcast “exploring our paths to collective healing, biocultural revitalization, and true abundance and wellness for all.”

The first work I created was paired with a conversation with Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart (Kanaka Maoli), Assistant Professor of Native and Indigenous Studies at Yale University.

When I read about her project exploring the role of ice in Hawai'i, I immediately thought of Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, or the reef trigger fish, who in Hawaiian mythology is closely associated with the deity Kamapua'a.

This is why instead of swimming freely, they are stuck in a block of ice, showing how the Western cold chain has trapped and damaged Native Hawaiians' ways of living and eating.

My next piece was paired with an episode featuring field philosopher and writer Thom van Dooren, in which he talked about his research about extinction and biodiversity loss, specifically of Hawai’i’s snails.

In approaching this work, I knew from the start that I wanted to capture both the beauty of Hawai'i's snails and their active extinction. In the final composition a snail's colorful, iridescent shell is slowly disintegrating, and I couldn’t help but cry when I finished drawing.