Mana Moves 2026 grew out of a long relationship between memory, place, and the work of staying anchored as a Kanaka ʻŌiwi woman in the diaspora. At fifty, this body of work is a return to what has always been present beneath the surface. Moving between Hawaiʻi and the continent, and carrying the emotional weight of leaving, returning, and leaving again, I began painting from the tension of how we hold culture in the body when we are not always on our own ʻāina. These works are rooted in the need to remember, to hold space, to remain a positive force, and to contribute to the lāhui through image, intention, and practice.

This series does not aim to recreate literal scenes or historical images. It follows mana as I feel it moving through kino, ʻāina, akua, and kinolau, through layered whites, mist, light, transparency, and shifting color. I live with keratoconus, a degenerative eye disease, and painted this series without corrective lenses or glasses. That choice asked me to trust a different kind of seeing, one rooted less in sharpness and more in presence, energy, and emotional truth. In that way, Mana Moves 2026 is both personal and cultural, a body of work about perception, remembrance, and the force that continues to move through us.