3254 Waialae Ave. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi 96816, 7:12am-6:12pm, January 17th, 2020
Single-channel video
11 hours
16:9, color, sound
Pūowaina: Flag Day
for Kaʻiana, Lākea, Mililani, Hulali, and Kalaiʻolaʻa
Bring ginger, yellow
and white, broken stalks
with glossy leaves.
Bring lei hulu,
palapalai, pīkake. Bring
kapa, beaten fine
as skin. Bring
the children
to chant
for our dead,
then stand
with the lāhui
and burn
their American
flag.
- Haunani-Kay Trask
Shortly after U.S. Flag Day in 1942 an updated set of federal regulations pertaining to the country’s national flag was signed into Public Law. Within Chapter 1 of Title 4 of the United States Code, protocols for flag use are outlined in great detail and address the proper “time and occasions for display” (4 U.S.C. § 6), “positions and manner of display” (4 U.S.C. § 7), and “respect for flag” (4 U.S.C. § 8). Subsection (a) of Section 6 states, “It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset [...].” Subsection (g) of Section 7 states, “[...] International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.” Subsection (i) of Section 8 states, “[...] Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.”
Stand at attention
Right hand over heart
Pledge allegiance to the Flag
In these times of war, all flags (recognized and unrecognized) continue to waver. As potent symbols of people and country, flags signal the hopes and horrors of every nation. With threads that can be unraveled all the way back to His Great Loneliness—conqueror of the independent islands of Hawaiʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, Molokaʻi, and Lānaʻi, and founder of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi—the current official flag of the 50th state of the United States of America has been raised up over these Islands, unchanged in design, since 1845. For the past one hundred and seventy-five years this version of ka Hae Hawaiʻi has been used by the state, territory, republic, provisional government, and kingdom alike.
When we look up to ka Hae Hawaiʻi today, we see the flag of a nation.
"3254 Waialae Ave. Honolulu, Hawai’i 96816, 7:12 AM - 6:12 PM, January 17th, 2020 (2020) " is an unedited one-shot video. We started filming shortly after sunrise, when the three flags visible within the camera’s field of view were hoisted and stopped filming shortly before sunset, when the same three flags were lowered. Realized as part of the exhibition, "HE HAE HŌʻAILONA IA (THE FLAG IS A SIGN)" (2020) curated by Josh Tengan at Aupuni Space, the work is intended to play in its entirety once a day, from sunup to sundown.
