If our external and psychic realities are intertwined then one must consider how our sense of place and our way of life is altered when the external stage upon which our lives play out is irrevocably changed. Our built environment, even when we pay no conscious attention to it, has been proven to have a great impact on our well-being and can trigger memory and emotion.
Honolulu is in the midst of an extensive building boom and the face of the city is changing in the name of development and urban renewal. This body of work focusses on the everyday places where people have lived, worked and played while building a strong sense of community identity. Many are humble and utilitarian. They are often old and might not be considered iconic but I see years of collected memories, beauty, optimism and maybe even a little bit of melancholy in the complex array of structures that make up the cityand are featured prominently in my work.
It is my goal to capture the spirit of these places in the hope that others may take a closer look at how we honor our communities by balancing development with preservation to ensure that we do, in fact, have an outlet.
The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.
—Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss
