b'KNOWING: THE PUUHONUA SOCIETYIn 1972, Alulis youngest daughter, Emma Aluli Meyer, founded a separate organization called the Young of Heart Workshop and Gallery, which eventually evolved into the Puuhonua Society, to inspire and empower young people through art and creativity. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, Meyer held art exhibits, performances and classes through the Puuhonua Society. Then in 1996, Emmas daughter Maile Meyer took on the role of executive director to reflect the organizations renewed mission to be a safe haven for artists and cultural practitioners.Today, under the direction of Mailes daughter Emma Broderick, the Puuhonua Society holds groundbreaking contemporary art exhibits and installations, teaches Hawaiian craft practices, provides working space for artists, and createsThe Puuhonua Society plays a critical role in teaching craft opportunities for Native Hawaiian and Hawaii-based artists andpractices, providing working space for artists, and re-educating cultural practitioners to express themselves and engage withIndigenous people in their traditional Hawaiian waysaudiences, especially on issues tied to social justice. Puuhonua means a place of healing, a place of safety, a sanctuary, says Mailes sister Manulani Meyer of the Societys important work.Access to traditional knowledge was not a guarantee when the two Meyer sisters were young. Maile describes how access to the most basic elements of Indigenous culture, like language, have been hard-won over time. Hawaiian was not taught when I was a child. When I tried to get Emma into an immersion school, it was a lottery, and people were begging for their children to get in. It was something that divided the Hawaiian community in the 90s. Now, Emmas child is in an immersion school.While both Maile and Manulani are well educated in Western ways, they are now reeducating themselves more deeply in traditional Hawaiian ways. Contextually, this moment in time is a long time coming, says Maile, and were looking ahead to whats available in the next generation.This is where the Puuhonua Society plays a critical role. The hard work of the Meyer women has led to the creation of a gallery, art studios and community space called the Aupuni Space. With its varied mix of projects and activities, the Puuhonua Society opens up numerous opportunities for Hawaiians for creative collaboration. In particular, Puuhonua nurtures Hawaiian contemporary art. Until 2019, it held the annual CONTACT exhibition, the most comprehensive and important annual exhibition of contem-porary art made in Hawaii. The exhibition brought fresh energy to Hawaiis contemporary art scene and raised the profile of Maoli (Indigenous Hawaiian) artists. A focal project for 2023 is Ai Po- haku, or Stone Eaters, described as a large-scale, multi-site affirmation of creative resistance -and persistence by Kanaka Oiwi artists. The exhibit has been touring art galleries in the University of Hawaii, system throughout its eight-month run, which will culminate with a showing at the Ho- ikea- kea Gallery at Leeward Community College in May. of Hawaii. It speaks to resistance to American colonization of Hawaii. It says Ua lawa ma- kou i ka po- haku: that we as Ai Po- haku brings together an intergenerational group of moreHawaiians would rather eat rocks than become Americans.than 40 poets, painters, carvers, weavers, filmmakers, photog-raphers and musicians in one of the largest presentations of itsBroderick adds that Ai Po- haku acknowledges not only the injus-kind in Hawaiis university system. A petition is being circulatedtices of the past, but the injustice that is happening now. It high-throughout the event for a tenure-track teaching position for alights the intergenerational connection of Hawaiian art and the course in Hawaiian art in the University of Hawaii system.connection to a-ina, or place. One of the artists shared recently that if we had a just society, shed be out of a job; we wouldnt Its so exciting, says Emma Broderick. The name Ai Po- hakuneed art. Theres still a great need for this kind of conversation, references a song, Kaulana na- pua, about the illegal overthrowshe notes.Ontario Native Womens Association29'