Title: ‘Kalo o’ Hanalei’
Series: Nā ʻAumākua
Location: Kauai, Hawai’i
Size: 22×17 in (55.8×43.1cm)
Date Created: September 2nd, 2020
Medium: Pigment on Museum Archival Parchment
Editions: Signed 1 of 25 Editions Unframed
Description: Captured in the sacred Hanalei Valley on the north shore of Kaua‘i, Kalo O’ Hanalei is a visual meditation on place, ancestry, and resilience. The photograph centers a thriving kalo (taro) field beneath the emerald cliffs and veiled waterfalls of Hihimanu Ridge, a region imbued with Native Hawaiian agricultural legacy and spiritual reverence. Known as the elder sibling of mankind in Hawaiian cosmology, kalo is not merely a crop—but a symbol of kinship, sustenance, and land stewardship.
Gillilan’s masterful use of natural light and shadow evokes the primal relationship between sky, water, and earth. His framing recalls 19th-century ethnographic landscapes, yet resists exoticization, instead grounding the work in contemporary ecological awareness. This piece belongs to the ongoing series Nā ʻAumākua, a photographic exploration of ancestral food systems and mythologies across the Pacific.