ARtist Talk » » AL LAGUNERO
THUR | 14 NOV | 5PM
Mānoa Heritage Center
2856 Oahu Ave • Honolulu
Limited free parking and street parking
Light refreshments. | Free and open to the public. | RSVP requested.
Hawai‘i Triennial 2025 (HT25) artist and Kanaka ‘Ōiwi painter Al Lagunero explores his genealogical, geographical, and temporal realities through an artist-in-residency program at Mānoa Heritage Center.
Lagunero is currently working on a series of paintings entitled Keauhou: A New Time, a body of work inspired by his great-grandmother, Kaʻahaʻāina-o-ka-haku Naihe. In 1874, when Charles Montague Cooke Jr., was born premature and in an extremely frail state, his parents asked for Kaʻahaʻāina, a traditional Hawaiian healer who was renowned for her skills on Hawai‘i Island. Through Kaʻahaʻāina’s care, baby “Monte,” began to gain weight and miraculously survived. Monte maintained a close relationship with Kaʻahaʻāina throughout his life. Now well over a century old, the home that Monte built on the grounds that the family maintained are part of Mānoa Heritage Center. The grounds include a healing garden named after Kaʻahaʻāina, and her name is often shared in tours and educational programs.
Kaʻahaʻāina’s healing practice continues to reverberate through Lagunero’s art practice, and its lasting impact on the Cooke family and the place they stewarded are the focus of this new body of work.
Al Lagunero’s residency at Mānoa Heritage Center is part of his participation in Hawaiʻi Triennial 2025 (HT25), 15 Feb – 04 May. Mahalo nui, Mānoa Heritage Center, for co-sponsoring Lagunero’s artist-in-residence and for co-hosting this program.
