Mohala, 3D sculpture series
Mohala traces movements of hula remembered and performed in VR, fragments of choreography captured as a 3D representation that bridges geographies and a spectrum of time. Hula is timeless - each time it is danced, it conveys a movement of the earth or an elemental force that continues to exist within each dancer as they are re-telling the story of that movement. Fragments of stories as movements are memories embedded in the body, and the tracing of these movements into a 3D form aims to represent something beyond physical and temporal boundaries, while being a deeper reconnection to Hula. This piece represents a tribute to this thriving practice and a connection to the greater collective living memory of traditional movement, while bridging into new mediums of form. Mohala in ‘Olelo Hawai’i means “unfolded, as flower petals; blossoming, opening up; spread"; Hoʻo mohala means to “open, unfold, spread, recover, develop, evolve.”
Mōhala is currently exhibited in “Frameworld”, an online exhibition curated by Yağmur Uyanık which establishes a focus on the discourses around creating a multiplicity of locality, understanding of the new international and transcultural solidarity in the times of extreme precarity. The works in the show together critically engage with the present, embrace the notions of urgency, and propose alternative approaches to current disruptions, reflecting on what interconnectedness and new modes of collectivity look like now.