Hoʻākea Source 2025 Grant Awardees
Colleen Kimura
Nā Leo o Kapa
Avalon Paradea
OUR JOY iS SACRED
Lani Punani
Babaeng Babae Na
Hercules Goss-Kuehn
The Renkon Project
Noe Tanigawa
I OLA KANALOA
Davianna McGregor & Craig Neff
Queen Kapiʻolani Canoe Project
Zak Shimose2025 Grant Recipient
The Queen Kapiʻolani Canoe Project is a collaboration that weaves the artistry of a Hawaiian cultural practice and the art filmmaking. QKCP will culminate with an exhibition of a rough-carved Koa wa’a, a participatory exhibition, where the public will finish-carve the wa’a, thereby contributing their mana to the wa’a. The exhibit will also feature a short documentary on the process of making a Ko’i, the canoe carvers’ main tool. This wa’a is a contemporary echo of the original that is now held in storage at the Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse in the United Kingdom. The original wa’a was a gift from King Kalakāua and Queen Kapiʻolani to England in 1891, just two years prior to the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. QKCP celebrates and honors the moʻokū’auhau of this waʻa, focusing on the perpetuation of a cultural practice and highlighting the histories of the Hawaiian Monarchy.
Zak Shimose works as an x-ray tech to pay the bills. Married with two daughters, 19 and 11. Learned canoe carving under master Hawaiian canoe carver Ray Bumatay. Zak has recently been learning the craft of filmmaking to tell this story of the Hawaiian wa’a in a museum storage facility in England that is making international connections. Zak will also be hosting canoe carving workshops for Native Hawaiian Veterans.