Emily DuBois ART
The magical nature and culture of Hawai'i have been major influences on my work since the 1980s.
The ongoing eruption of Pu'u O'o crater was a defining event in my life and an important theme in my work. In 2018 the most recent lava flow, less than a mile from our home, covered most of the ancient, sacred sites in the Puna district. Not only was this a huge cultural loss for Hawai'i, but a personal loss as well.
Now, after nearly four years without a stable place to live, my wife and I have found a home in beautiful Portugal. I live with a deep understanding of saudade, the intense yearning for what has been loved and lost forever. This mood infuses my recent work.
Pu'u O'o Diptych, 2020, 76"h x 70'w woven, dyed, ink.
Pele is in Hawaii.
She rumbles and hisses,
steams and crackles
As she consumes
and creates Puna.
Flashing in the heavens,
on and on.
The end is in the sea.
May a deep respect
come to us.
O Pele.
Your name is Pele.
-traditional Hawaiian chant
“For days before we left we were subject to constant earthquakes (at one point 500 tremors in one hour) while Pele was flowing underground (we could hear and feel her pushing big boulders along under our house) before surfacing violently as a fast-moving flow fountaining through many fissures in Leilani Estates, less than two miles from our home. The air was impossible to breathe and there were predictions that our hillside would begin to slide, with cracks appearing on our land, on the road and a mile away on Highway 130. It was all very frightening."
https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2018/09/06/community/art-by-hand-opens-friday-at-wailoa-center/