By Vanessa Lee Miller
This January, an exhibit entitled “Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans,” opened at the British Museum in London. The museum stewards of one of the world’s largest collections of nā mea kūpuna Hawaiʻi outside of our pae ʻāina. The Hawaiʻi collection ranges from the most diminutive Niʻihau shell leis and fish hooks to an imposing statue of Kū.
As I climbed the museum’s grand pillared entrance, a peregrine falcon on the hunt swooped down from a high balcony and flashed past me. Perhaps a hōʻailona? At the entrance I’m greeted by a massive image of Kū, finely carved from ʻulu wood, his mouth gaping and legs flexed, seeming to ask, “dare you enter?”
It is a step back in time. The exhibit centers around the brief and turbulent reign of King Kamehameha II, Ka-lani-nui-kua-liholiho-i-ke-kapu (the great chief with the burning back kapu) better known as Liholiho. The young monarch, only four years into his reign, endeavored to negotiate, in person, a solid, long-lasting alliance with King George IV, the British monarch.
Liholiho set off for London in May 1823 accompanied by his favorite wife, Kamāmalu, and a delegation of his most trusted retainers led by Chief Boki and his wife, High Chiefess Liliha. It was a time of uncertainty; the arrival of aggressive foreign merchants, deadly epidemics, and Christian missionaries were upending Hawaiian society.
Upon entering the exhibition space, one is immediately struck by a sense of the past and the present moving in an interwoven path of time, history and generations of Kānaka. All that we see before us has crossed oceans to be here.
Alice Christophe, the exhibit’s curator, said she envisioned the exhibition as a “mechanism that could trigger loans and movements outwards, including towards Hawaiian shores.”
Arguably, the exhibit’s showstopper is a brilliant assembly of featherwork: mahiole, lei poʻo and ʻahu ʻula arranged as a gathering of aliʻi that conjures visions of aliʻi on the battlefield. A nearby exhibit of nā mea lua, warfare crafts, complement the ʻahu ʻula.
An example of hula is presented in a video display. Accompanied by oli and the steady beat of pahu drums, the dancers demonstrate the use of ʻulīʻulī. A few steps away, visitors can view similar instruments on display. A traditional puppet, used for hula kiʻi, is displayed wearing a malo of kapa, made expressly for this exhibition by Kumu Auliʻi Mitchell.
The exhibition follows a chronological path highlighting the museum’s world-famous kapa collection: vivid colors, geometric patterns and smooth textures are carefully hung, without the glare of a glass window, enabling a view of the kapa as it was meant to be appreciated.
A fascinating conversation recorded in a video, covers the sourcing of materials like ʻieʻie vine, while a showcase nearby displays modern pāpale next to a mahiole kahiko, enhancing the visitor’s understanding of the crafting of both objects.
The exhibition reflects the intersection of ka wā kahiko and modern Hawaiʻi; the museum’s collection of centuries-old artifacts complemented by gifts from today’s cultural practitioners such as ʻUmi Kai, Kanaʻe Keawe, Kumulāʻau and Haunani Sing, and the late Rocky Jensen.
Cultural practitioners and scholars have been welcomed to visit this collection and share their ʻike as a bridge of collaboration. A new and refreshing perspective has been added to the conversation of kuleana for mea kūpuna as well as mea hou. The ʻike of both the past and the present now cross oceans in both directions.
A touching message of aloha guides the visitor out of the exhibit space. A large screen projects a video of a group of ʻōpio, reciting a poem; a firm and diplomatic statement reflecting love for our ʻāina. May you hear these islands breathe with you.
I left the exhibition feeling proud of the past and present, and hopeful for the future.
Before leaving London, my curiosity led me to the Strand District on the River Thames, where the Caledonian Hotel once stood. There, on July 14, 1824, Liholiho and Kamāmalu spent their last hours surrounded by their loyal retainers who kept vigil in the dim candlelight. I imagine that the clamor outside – street peddlers shouting, horseshoes clattering over cobbled streets –provided a stark contrast to the quiet sorrow of the moment.
It fell to Boki to bring the bodies of his king and queen back to Hawaiʻi and relay the moʻolelo of Liholiho’s experiences and the outcome of this diplomatic mission.
This voyage across oceans took courage, determination and wisdom on the part of young Kamehameha II whose thoughts are eloquently expressed in this ʻōlelo noʻeau: “Na wai hoʻi ka ʻole o ke akamai, he alanui i maʻa i ka hele ʻia e oʻu mau mākua.” (Why shouldn’t I know, when it is a road often traveled by my parents?).
The British Museum’s exhibit, “Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans” opened January 15 and will run through May 25, 2026. The exhibit showcases about 150 Hawaiian cultural items, from traditional artifacts to contemporary artwork, including an ahu ʻula (feathered cloack) gifted to King George III in 1810 by King Kamehameha I along with a letter requesting an alliance with the British Crown.It is the first time the ahu ʻula has been displayed in more than a century.
A number of Native Hawaiians were included in the museum’s Exhibition Stewardship Group, Providing ʻike kūpuna and ensuring the authenticity of the project.
The contributors were Bishop Museum Library & Archives Collections Manager Leah Caldeira; UH Mānoa American Studies Department associate specialist and curator Noelle Kahanu; cultural practitioner and master craftsman Umi Kai; and Kamehameha Schools English kumu Jsohnel Pacarro. They not only helped to develop the exhibit; through their work they also helped to revitalize and perpetuate the centuries-long relationship between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi.
Building on years of collaboration with Native Hawaiian artists, practitioners and scholars, the exhibit centers on Indigneous knowledge and shines new light on this collection of exceptional objects and extraordinary stories.
Vanessa Lee Miller is a haumāna ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and writer of poetry, drama and fiction. In 2013, she founded a project called “Lost and Found: a virtual repatriation.” It’s a bridge-building project where nā mea kahiko, primarily those in the British Museum and the British Library, are returned to our pae ʻāina through images and moʻolelo, re-opening pathways of exchange between Hawaiʻi and Great Britain.
