Lehuauakea is a Native Hawaiian interdisciplinary artist and kapa-maker born in Portland, Ore., and raised in Pāpaʻikou, Hawaiʻi. Lehua’s Kanaka Maoli family descends from several lineages connected to Maui, Kaua‘i, and Moku O Keawe, where their family resides to this day.

With a particular focus on the labor-intensive making of kapa (Hawaiian barkcloth), ʻohe kāpala (carved bamboo printing tools), and use of natural pigments, Lehua is able to breathe new life into patterns and traditions practiced for generations. Through these traditional Native Hawaiian craft practices, their work addresses themes of environmental relations, Indigenous cultural resilience, and contemporary Kanaka Maoli identity.

Lehuauakea has spent the last several years learning from well-known barkcloth maker Wesley Sen of Moanalua, Hawaiʻi, who trained in Pacific barkcloth-making with Pua Van Dorpe, Beatrice Krauss, Malia Solomon, Carla Freitas, Dennis Kanaʻe of Hawaiʻi, and Mary Pritchard of Sāmoa. Through these intergenerational land-based practices, Lehuauakea aims to build on this tradition and ultimately share it with the next generation to ensure that this mode of Indigenous storytelling is carried well into the future. Furthermore, as part of the Native Hawaiian diaspora in North America, Lehua is committed to helping other Kānaka with similar experiences connect to their culture away from home and find empowerment in their own heritage.

Lehuauakea’s work has been shown in exhibitions nationally and internationally, and is held in many private and public art collections around the globe. The artist is currently based between the continent and Pāpaʻikou after earning their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting with a minor in art + ecology at Pacific Northwest College of Art.