More than a visual enticement, the large window displays on each concourse at Lihu‘e Airport invite viewers to consider higher ideals. Since 2007 Carol Yotsuda, executive director of the Garden Island Arts Council, has been designing installations for the windows
More than a visual enticement, the large window displays on each concourse at Lihu‘e Airport invite viewers to consider higher ideals.
Since 2007 Carol Yotsuda, executive director of the Garden Island Arts Council, has been designing installations for the windows with varying themes, most recently focusing on the importance of conservation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
The “100 Years of Conservation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands” window display featuring historic and current photographs of Papaha’naumokua’kea Marine National Monument was erected Oct. 9 and will remain until the end of the year.
Over two years Yotsuda has installed 11 displays — each one taking two to three months of research and preparation prior to erecting.
“Every window I design I try to capture the feeling of the topic. This one I made clean and stark,” she said.
Yotsuda included a large map showing the locations of the islands and atolls of the monument; stunning photographs by Susan Middleton and David Littschwager from their book, “Archipelago” and a 100 year retrospective of legislation and the visionaries who fought to protect this treasure.
“Papaha’naumokua’kea is a place we can contaminate just by our presence. This is a wilderness that has to be left alone if it is to survive,” Yotsuda said.
Yotsuda’s minimalist approach to this window was intended to draw attention to the photographs.
“The pictures are so powerful. That’s what I want people to see,” she said.
With the help of a team, Yotsuda created an island scene by gluing sand to paper to create a beach and painting a backdrop of blue sky.
For those with time to linger between flights, Yotsuda provides a timeline of legislation created to protect the islands beginning with President Teddy Roosevelt and ending with Governor Linda Lingle’s official naming of the monument.
Papaha’naumokua’kea is cooperatively managed to ensure ecological integrity and achieve strong, long-term protection and perpetuation of Northwestern Hawaiian Island ecosystems, Native Hawaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations.
“When we (Papaha’naumokua’kea Marine National Monument) learned that the “Windows of Kaua‘i” display would feature 100 years of conservation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, we felt it was an opportunity to tell the story of the relatively new monument in a unique way and to an altogether different audience,” wrote media coordinator for the monument, Dan Dennison, in an e-mail. “With the monument being only three years old, but protection of the islands dating back an entire century, Carol did a fantastic job giving people both a sense of history and a sense of place.”
For more information visit papahanaumokuakea.gov.
