More than 2,000 Attend the 25th Annual Native Hawaiian Convention
Landgraf Named a Guggenheim Fellow
Kapulani Landgraf, a professor of art at Windward Community College, has been named to the 101st class of Guggenheim Fellows (2026) for her creative work in photography.
Landgraf’s artwork is included in collections locally, on the continent and around the world. Her major projects include “Piliāmoʻo” the documentation, in collaboration with photographer Mark Hamasaki, of the construction of the H-3 freeway and the destruction it left behind.
Landgraf is also the director of Gallery ʻIolani, which recently concluded a special exhibit about musician, composer and Kumu Hula Robert Cazimero. Her books, Nā Wahi Pana o Koʻolau Poko (1994) and Nā Wahi Kapu o Maui (2003) both received Ka Palapala Poʻokela awards for excellence in illustrative books.
Guggenheim Fellows receive grants ranging from $40,000 – $55,000 to pursue “scholarship in any field of knowledge and creation in any art form, under the freest possible conditions.”
Landgraf’s fellowship will be applied to her project, “What Was Taken What Remains,” which confronts colonial histories and will include archival research, photographic interventions, ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and moʻolelo to reframe dominant narratives.
Landgraf is one of 223 individuals selected in 2026 from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants. Since its establishment, the Guggenheim Foundation has granted fellowships to more than 19,000 individuals including at least 125 Nobel laureates.
DHHL Awards More Than 1,000 Lots in July
Community Protests Kalaupapa Tours
On July 9, several dozen Molokaʻi residents gathered at the Kalaupapa trailhead to prevent the reopening of ranger-led public hiking tours by the National Park Service which launched two days earlier.
Following the peaceful standoff, the park service announced that Kalaupapa National Historical Park was “temporarily pausing future public tours while it reassesses the feasibility of visitor access.”
The settlement of Kalaupapa was established in 1866 to quarantine Hawaiian citizens, mostly Native Hawaiians, believed to have contracted Hansen’s disease (leprosy). Kalaupapa National Historical Park was established in 1980 to preserve the village and its history.
Small commercial tours to Kalaupapa were led for years by resident and patient Meli Watanuki (Kalaupapa Saints Tours), however, Watanuki passed away in June and her company ceased operations. Shortly afterwards, the park service announced it would begin offering its own tours twice a week.
At issue is the fact that the park service did not engage in public consultation prior to launching the tours. According to Maui County Councilwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez who is from Molokaʻi, even the residents of Kalaupapa did not know about the tours until they read about it on a flyer posted to a building.
Tours to Kalaupapa remain on hold while the park service completes its review.
Noh Named ED of U.S. VETS Barber’s Point
Tamah-Lani Noh has been named executive director of U.S. VETS Barber’s Point. Noh is a retired veteran with 30 years of enlisted and commissioned service in the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard and the U.S. Air Force.
Noh brings extensive experience in nonprofit leadership, community partnerships, and program development to her new role, which involves overseeing services supporting veterans including housing, workforce development, and case management.
Throughout her career, she has held numerous leadership roles, including serving as the counter-drug coordinator with joint command time, where she managed a statewide drug program to support law enforcement agencies.
She has also been active in advocating for and establishing various prevention programs, including the Hawaiʻi Youth Challenge Academy, the Elementary School Attendance Program and the Kōkua, ʻOhana, Aloha Program – programs developed in collaboration with the Hawaiʻi National Guard, Honolulu Police Department, Department of Education, and Department of Health. For years, Noh ran the Hawaiʻi Guard’s drug interdiction programs.
As the homeless community engagement specialist for former Gov. David Ige, Noh was responsible for engaging community members and agencies, facilitating training, and addressing homeless issues statewide.
Lum Ho Solo Art Exhibit
Commons Gallery at UH Mānoa will present a solo exhibition, Emergence – Puka Mai, featuring the work of artist Wahinekaʻiu Rie Sharon Lum Ho. Curated by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui, Ph.D., the exhibit will run from Aug. 25 – Sept. 6, 2026.
Emergence – Puka Mai spans several decades of Lum Ho’s art practice, which primarily draws on the Kumulipo. This epic chant delineates complicated interrelationships and enumerates thousands of deities and ancestors.
“It begins in deep darkness and moves to light, to the beginnings of life forms, the cyclical nature of evolution and the profundity of dualisms connected to the universe,” Lum Ho explains. “The oneness of all inspires me; we are observers and stewards of emergence.”
Lum Ho grew up in Wailuku, Maui, and has a BFA from the UH Mānoa, an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art, and a JD from John F. Kennedy School of Law. Kauanui is a new art curator and established activist-scholar whose work focuses on Hawaiian sovereignty and cultural politics. She directs the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program at Princeton University.
A special walk-through of the show will be held August 20 from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m., followed by a panel on Global Indigeneities in Kuykendall room 410. A reception will be held at Commons Gallery on Aug. 29, 2026, from 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m., with an artist-curator dialogue at 2:00 p.m.
For more information, visit: Hawaii.edu/art/exhibitions-events-museum.
Ei Nei Wins Big at the 2026 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Awards
Pregnant and ʻOno for Poi?
A new study called “Poi for Māmā” (POM) will explore how eating poi may support overall health during pregnancy by improving digestion, balancing blood sugar, and enhancing overall wellbeing. Eligible participants will receive one pound of locally produced poi per day for 28 days.
During the project, participants will complete health and food surveys and have their physical measurements (i.e., height, weight, blood pressure) taken. Swab samples will also be collected to examine changes in pregnancy and gut health. Compensation will be provided for participants’ time and contributions.
The research team is from the University of Hawaiʻi Cancer Center. Pregnant women from the windward side of Oʻahu (from Koʻolaupoko to Koʻolauloa) are invited to participate in the 4-week project.
Complete the survey to see if you’re eligible or contact the research team at [email protected] or call 808-586-3007 or text 808-353-5537.
ʻŌiwi Representation at National History Day Competition
(First Photo) ʻĀnelalani Suapaia, a rising senior at Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, took home a third-place award in the Senior Individual Exhibit category of the National History Day National Competition June 14-18 for her project “Revolutionizing Native Hawaiian Nutrition: The Impact of Claire Kuʻuleilani Hughes.” Held at the University of Maryland, nearly 3,000 students competed in the national competition – selected from a pool of about 500,000 students who participated in local events. (Second Photo) In addition to Suapaia, five students from Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo Public Charter School in Hilo also qualified for the national competition. However, because there are no Hawaiian- speaking judges at the national level, the haumāna showcased their projects at the University of Maryland as well as at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian “In Language There is Life: I ka ʻŌlelo nō ke Ola” exhibit. The haumāna included Uluaʻe Kealiʻikanakaʻoleohaililani, Kaʻie Martin, Pūnua Gomes, Pikake Evans-Barnes and Mana Inoue. They are pictured here with their kumu, Māhealani Lono. – Top Photo Courtesy of National History Day; Bottom Photo Courtesy of Hawaiʻi Council for the Humanities
