On the side of Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki, four stones sit behind a black fence. Thousands of people pass them every day. “But those people, very few of them know the true story about what the stones represent,” Bishop Museum Historian and Archives Curator DeSoto Brown said. “They are called the healer stones of Kapaemahu.”
The mission of SFO Museum, a division of San Francisco International Airport, is to delight, engage, and inspire a global audience with innovative programming, and to provide visibility to a range of contemporary artists and filmmakers who are at the leading edge of their craft. In Kapaemahu, the story of four extraordinary beings of dual male and female spirits from Tahiti, filmmakers Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, and Joe Wilson reveal how these beings passed their healing arts to the people of Hawai’i. On display in the Departures Level 3, Gallery 4E Sep 29, 2022 - Nov 02, 2022.
Honolulu Magazine includes the Kapaemahu children's book in this list of stories, poems and plays that reflect experiences deeply rooted in our Island home. Published by Penguin Random House's Kokila Books, you can find at Native Books Hawaii and Na Mea Hawaii in Honolulu, online, and just about everywhere books are sold.
Signage at the Kapaemahu monument in Waikīkī fails to mention that the stones represent four māhū who brought healing arts to Hawaiʻi. Kuhio Lewis, CEO of the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, said: “When any part of our past is erased, for whatever reason, future possibilities are removed. It is time to assure that our public monuments in Hawaiʻi, including the stones of Kapaemahu, are a site of inspiration and opportunity for the next generation.”
In the 1960s when a Waikiki bowling alley was demolished to create more beach, four large boulders were unearthed at the site near where they had been erected to honor four Tahitian healers. A historical plaque was erected at the stones, which date back more than 500 years and are protected by a fenced enclosure near the Honolulu Police Department substation in Waikiki. But the version of history that recognized these healers as mahu, someone of dual male and female spirit, remained buried even in 1997 when the monument’s signage was last updated. Some members of the community have asked the city to consider revising the monument’s signage or adding a QR code to provide more information about the mahu aspect of the stones for those who are interested. The movement is an outgrowth of “The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu,” an exhibit at Bishop Museum that runs through Oct. 16.
The book, just released, is the first-ever U.S. publication in both English and Olelo Niihau, the Niihau dialect of Hawaiian, said co-author Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu. Identifying herself as “mahu” or transgender, she is a Native Hawaiian teacher, filmmaker and an activist for gender minorities. Her co-authors include Dean Hamer and his husband, Joe Wilson, both Emmy Award-winning filmmakers, who have collaborated with Wong-Kalu to make five films on transgender people and society’s outsiders. The book is based on their latest film, “Kapaemahu,” released in 2020 and shortlisted for a 2021 Oscar. It is illustrated by Daniel Sousa, an Academy Award-nominated animator.
History Revealed, History UnErased, Truthful History, Empowering and Compassionate History, Living History - just a few of the framings that come to mind regarding the powerful presentations of groundbreaking scholars Tēvita O. Ka'ili and Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp, who shared their manaʻo as part of the Kapaemahu Speaker Series at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum. Video available now.
Kanaeokana - a network of 80 Hawaiian culture, ʻōlelo and ʻāina-based schools (preschool-university) and community organizations - has unveiled a Kapaemahu Activity Book. Created by teachers for teachers, the activity book is part of Kanaeokana's efforts to develop and share educational resources that support the Hawaiian education system. The Kapaemahu Project creators hope the book will also serve as a guide to help perpetuate the enduring legacy of The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu.
As part of the speaker series based on the themes of Bishop Museum's newest exhibition - "The Healer Stones of Kapaemahu" - this first conversation delves into the historical findings and artistic choices of the curators, including details about the first written version of the moʻolelo, its loss, its rediscovery deep in a library archive, and its restoration — all in the context of the rise of tourism, militarization, and the erosion of Hawaiian cultural identity throughout the 20th century.
More than 500 years ago, Hawaiians placed four boulders on a Waikiki beach to honor visitors from the court of Tahiti’s king who had healed the sick. They were “mahu,” which in Hawaiian language and culture refers to someone with dual male and female spirit and a mixture of gender traits. The stones were neglected for many years, as Christian missionaries and other colonizing Westerners suppressed the role of mahu in Hawaiian society. At one point a bowling alley was built over the boulders. Officials restored the stones multiple times since the 1960s but informational plaques installed next to them omitted references to mahu. The stones and the history of the four healers now are featured in an exhibit at Bishop Museum in Honolulu. The display highlights the deep roots of gender fluidity in Polynesia.
