Hui Mo‘olelo: Kevin & Kukui Gavagan
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In 2023, Kevin Gavagan and his daughter Kukui Gavagan recorded a talk-story as part of our collaborative Hui Mo‘olelo program with Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society and the County of Maui. In 2024, professional artists from across the globe submitted proposals to translate this story as a work of public art. Upon selection by a community panel, artist Richard O'Connor and his team at Ace & Son Moving Picture Co entered a period of project development to meet the storytellers, learn more about the context of their story, and infuse the evolving design with a sense of place distinct to the recording.
LISTEN: • Full Recording HERE • Excerpt HERE On April 27, 2024, their Kahoʻolawe-inspired story will be unveiled as a short animated film during a free and public event at ProArts Playhouse in Kīhei. RSVP HERE |
As the family of Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission's Terri Gavagan, Kevin and Kukui have spent many years participating as kākoʻo (supporters) and volunteers both within the Reserve as well as from their Maui home. As Assistant Director of Engineering at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, Kevin Gavagan received the 2022 Mālama i ka ʻĀina Award by the Maui Invasive Species Committee, the Maui Association of Landscape Professionals, and the County of Maui, exhibiting a passion for horticulture, native plants, and Hawaiian culture as well as leadership in helping to restore Kahoʻolawe. As a Kanaeokana Aloha ‘Āina Leader Awardee, Kukui has been recognized for her growing commitment to aloha ‘āina; accepting the kuleana to work for the benefit of our community and affirming the importance of our cultural values in today’s society. We are honored to share their story.
Project Development
This is a season of storytelling. A time to share the tales from our kupuna and the legends our mo‘opuna will tell.
Artist sample work
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‘Ōlelo No‘eau consultation
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Storyteller & KIRC consultation
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Project Timeline
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Other Kahoʻolawe Projects
Story Excerpt
Kevin: I met Dr. Aluli and the others who had gone to Kahoʻolawe, made it an issue, and got Kahoʻolawe back against the US Navy. There are so many other things on Kahoʻolawe. You know they have the (classroom/ library) annex there. I read at that that annex about Kāmohoaliʻi. There’s a place out on the east side called Kalua O Kāmohoaliʻi. All the stories of of interactions with Kāmohoaliʻi all had the common thread of he would appear in times of peril, and he would hang around until the people were safe. Then he would disappear off. And that was consistent with this really benign story that Tutu used to tell me in Waipio valley. They huli’d their canoe and this shark came and hung around until they got to the muliwai back safe on land. And when I read that on Kahoʻolawe that that was Kāmohoaliʻi, I don’t know if that was tendencies of sharks. But that gave me chicken skin to think - was that Kāmohoaliʻi that Tutu was experiencing and didn’t know? Because her Uncle was with her, and he would tell her “No worry, the shark is your ʻaumakua, you aint gotta worry”. So to read that from an anthropologist’s point of view who had studied Kāmohoaliʻi because in that ahupuaʻa of Kanapou was his Kalua O Kāmohoaliʻi, so that shook me to my cultural bones. And I think I said this already, being on that island to participate in the plantings and to see a lot of the ocean areas were reserves; to see the marine life that was there. As compared to Maui, the Maui reef was just so over-harvested. I thought to myself the poison in the water really is us not managing how we treat the ocean. You always lament how I never took you night diving. And what have I always said?
Kukui: That they were already all over-harvested already.
Kevin: No more fish already, there more divers then get fish. Right?
Kukui: Yeah
Kevin: So I just pull myself out of the food chain there. When I look at Kahoʻolawe, the reef, the ocean’s ability to revitalize itself, if we but leave it alone. That was very impacting to my mind when I think about our influences on our natural resources.
Kukui: That they were already all over-harvested already.
Kevin: No more fish already, there more divers then get fish. Right?
Kukui: Yeah
Kevin: So I just pull myself out of the food chain there. When I look at Kahoʻolawe, the reef, the ocean’s ability to revitalize itself, if we but leave it alone. That was very impacting to my mind when I think about our influences on our natural resources.