Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 7, Number 6, 1 June 1990 — Makaku [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Makaku

By Rocky Ka'iouiiokahihikolo 'Ehu Jensen ©

ln acknowledgement of patrons

Recently we were invited to attend a reception at the Bishop Museum commemorating the donation of two John Webber drawings to the museum by native son Raymond Schoenke. The drawings were exquisite. One was a red and black charcoal sketch of two men in a eanoe, sail unfurled, with one of the men bailing out water. The other was a rare small peneil drawing of a young man sitting, knees up, on a two-man raft, "Huinapapalani." In the middle of the raft is a large bunch of bananas and a cluster of coconuts. I cannot explain the emotion that welied up within me when I saw the drawings for the first time. My spirit was overwhelmed with the photographie impressions of a moment long gone — two unposed candid shots of our ancient people going through their everyday exercises of living. As a native I am grateful for the opportunity to have experienced two more images dealing with our ancient lifestyle, somehow melding into the scenes, becoming one with the three men. Staring intently at the small drawings, I tried to follow through. Squinting my eyes, I could see the eanoe undulate with the slight oeean swell, the

sail swaying in the breeze. I could hear the water as it was scooped out of the eanoe and then thrown back into the sea, while the drone of our native tongue, softly spoken, strengthened the aka cord to that reality. As I joined the other man on the raft, I marveled at the never-before seen object of transportation. How well the planks of the raft had been planed and fastened together, gracefully turning up a bit at both ends. Afraid to break the spell, 1 asked in a whisper what he was doing. He told me that he was going ashore to trade his bananas and coconuts for some fish. The laughter and cheerful chatter of the museum visitors guests blew my day-dream away. I had returned to the present to see Raysurrounded by his mother and sister from the Oliwa-Alapa elan, Dr. Donald Duckworth, Lynn Davis, Isabella Abbott, John Dominis Holt IV, Watters Martin, Cy Timberlake, Dr. Roger Ross, Anita Manning, Eloise Tungpalan, Moanikeala Akaka, Tommy Holmes, John Charlot, Bishop Museum trustees and so many others . . . all celebrating the return of the "three." I smiled as Ronn Ronck, art writer

from the Honolulu Advertiser asked, "I wonder how many more are out there?" I know that I've written about patronage before, but it bears repeating. Raymond Schoenke's generosity and ethnic pride has allowed us the privilege of peeking into the past and viewing our people in a way that helps re-create that ancient world, bringing it closer to the present. Unlike European, North and South American, Oriental, even Afriean cultures . . . we don't know what our people looked like before 1778. And even then, the overall picture is very sketchy to say the least. Every little find, every scrap of paper, every crude line is a treasure, a lot of pieces to be added to the puzzle whieh is called kanaka maoli. I want to commend the Bishop Museum, under the guidance of Donald Duckworth; Raymond Schoenke, friend and patron; John Dominis Holt IV, mentor, for giving Hawai'i something tangible, something real, something that easily fills in the gaps in a memory that has long existed in dreams and stories. Mai ka po mai 'o'ia 'i'o, althouqh we know the truth it does the soul good to see it materialize before your very eyes.