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FLUX Hawaii A destination for local arts, culture, and social issues that reflect our islands’ unique sense of

01/12/2024

More Flux Holiday Gift Guide goodies: Know someone in desperate need of a spa day? 💆🏽‍♀️

At the link in our bio, find gifts for a much-needed self-care sesh or essentials to upgrade your wellness rituals year round.

04/05/2024

A bill aimed to crack down on short-term rentals (STRs) was signed into law today by Governor Josh Green. Senate Bill 2919 aims to regulate vacation rentals and the platforms that host them across the state, where 5.5 percent of total housing units are STRs. It is a direct response to the state’s ballooning housing crisis, exacerbated by the thousands of West Maui families who were displaced by last year’s Lahaina wildfires.

SB2919 gives counties home rule authority to regulate their specific vacation rental markets and redefine zoning ordinances, granting them the power to turn STRs into long-term homes or ban them altogether. Violators will face a proposed penalty of $10,000 per day. The measure also clarifies a 1957 law that challenged previous efforts to regulate vacation rentals in Honolulu. The new language could have far-reaching implications, paving the way for a more sustainable housing landscape as the median price of a single-family home soars to $820,000 and many residents increasingly find themselves priced out of the market.

SB2919 will take effect in West Maui on July 1, 2025, and on January 1, 2026 for the rest of the island, potentially turning Maui’s current 7,000 STRs into long-term housing. “Yesterday marked a monumental moment not just for Lahaina, but for the entire state,” said Paele Kiakona at a rally for Lāhainā Strong, who has occupied Kā‘anapali Beach since November 2023 in a call for dignified housing for fire survivors. The grassroots organization has been one of the major lobbyists for SB2919.

The Ohana Aina Association has raised objections to the bill, fearing it could aggravate existing housing challenges by limiting month-to-month rental availability for those who cannot qualify for long-term leases.

“It’s undeniable that this measure has been long overdue,” said Maui Councilwoman Keani Rawlins-Fernandez in her testimony. “It’s heartbreaking that it took our beloved town of Lahaina burning down, leaving so many without stable shelter, to finally get this common-sense legislation this far.”

Written by Kaia Stallings (). Photo by .

02/05/2024

Jim Little is one of the most famous frangipani growers in the world.⁠
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Since founding in 1973, he has become known for unique hybrids coveted by collectors. Despite his global reputation, though, Jim kept access to his Haleʻiwa farm limited and the secrets behind his famed plumeria confined to a choice few. ⁠
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That was until May 1, 2023. Last , the farm opened its doors to the public for the first time in its 50-year history. Now helmed by Jim’s son, the surf photographer , and grandson, Dane, the North Shore acreage welcomes tour groups at the height of the growing season, which allows visitors to stop, smell, and saunter among their world-renowned cultivars in person.⁠
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Find more unique ways to explore at the link in our bio. Written by . Photos by .⁠

23/04/2024

The beauty and brio on display in a Kaua’i aunty’s floral headpieces have captivated social media.⁠
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The woman, known simply as Aunty Nani, circulates her near-daily displays of island style via the Instagram account of . Though we never see her face, what’s always on view are the flowers, arranged artfully in her pulled back, silvering hair.⁠
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The themselves range from minimalist (a single-stem white lily as large as an open palm) to maximalist (tusk-like blue jade with tī leaves pinned to stand upright like a toothy crown). Some arrangements aren’t even flowers. Scroll back to 2018 to a cluster of orange eggplant and fern dangling in her hair and a clutch of handmade coconut palm frond roses speared to touch edges so they look like a shield.⁠
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Hiroko Letman, who works with Aunty Nani at a plant nursery and runs the account of nearly 40k followers, found the confidence in which the octogenarian styled herself striking and worthy of documentation. ⁠
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Originally from Japan, Letman was initially unaware of Hawai’i’s custom to bedeck one’s hair daily with flowers. “At first I thought this was something that young women do,” she says, but seeing Aunty Nani wearing these “very large, gorgeous flowers so beautifully, it changed my impressions about beauty and age. I realized it’s okay for older women to be very bold and expressive just like young women.“⁠
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Read more about why Aunty Nani’s singular style and adornments enthrall us at the link in our bio. Written by .

12/04/2024

: The beautiful geometry of Matt Mallams’ photographs.

“I’m just drawn to strong colors and deep shadows when trying to get creative with the compositions,” the Oahu-based street photographer and photo editor says. “Sometimes also trying to break the rules of conventual composition and other times trying to add as many elements that I can pack into the frame at once. All while making sure it’s all organized, nice, and neat.”

With a keen eye for color and an uncanny ability to choose an engaging vantage point, he skillfully brings order to the chaos he encounters.

Read his interview with photographer at the link in our bio.

26/03/2024

: Lydia Liliʻuokalani Kawānanakoa draped in lei and paʻu for the Kamehameha Day parade, c. 1930s-40s. Photo from Hawai‘i State Archives.

15/06/2023

Aloha, readers! The latest magazine — Issue No. 44, the Spring/Summer 2023 Issue is here — freshly plucked and all aglow ✨ In these pages:

🌿 Hawaiian ‘ohana rehabilitating agriculture
🎞 Redirecting the settler gaze in local filmmaking
💠 Revisiting breezeblock, a defining feature of the islands’ urban fabric
🌅 Sowing sovereignty on a Hawai‘i Island homestead

Link in our bio to subscribe. More info on stockists at fluxhawaii.com.

Cover images: by ; the Reilly sisters by ; Kapolei skate park by .

Flux Hawai‘i — the Magazine
Publisher
Editor
Managing Editor
‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i Editor
Managing Designer
Designer
Senior Photographer
Brand & Production Coordinator
Partner/GM, Hawai‘i
Operations Director
People and Creative Services Director

09/06/2023

: Surfers at Mākaha, Hawai‘i, 1961. Photo by Robert B. Goodman.

06/06/2023

No ka mea hana lei ʻo Meleana Estes, he hoʻokupu aloha kēlā me kēia lei no kona tūtū, kona lāhui, a me kona ʻāina. • For lei maker , every creation is a gift back to her tūtū, community, and the land.
⁠
E heluhelu ma ka ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi aia ma ka loulou i kuhikuhi ʻia. Kākau ʻia na N. Kamakaokalani Gallagher a kiʻi ʻia na Mahina Choy-Ellis. • Tap the link in our bio to read this story in Hawaiian. Story by with images by .choy.
⁠
He ʻāpana kēia moʻolelo o ka pūʻulu hōʻike ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi me ka hui pū ʻana me Kīnā‘ole Foundation. • This series creates stories reported in ‘ōlelo Hawai‘i first, with English translations second. Our project uplifts Kānaka Maoli and Hawaiian-speaking journalists and photographers with support from .

05/06/2023

: The voluminous dress of pāʻū riders, c. 1880s.

Form follows function for Native Hawaiian equestrians named after the billowy skirts that became their trademark. Pāʻū came to prominence in the 19th century, after the introduction of horses to made horseback the islands’ primary mode of transportation.

Hawaiian women, however, eschewed the sidesaddle, a Western method of riding meant to keep women modest, but which only succeeded in making the act more cumbersome. Instead, they rode astride.

With this riding style came a dilemma. Popular dress of the era with its floor-length skirts made riding astride uncomfortable (women’s trousers weren’t socially acceptable until the late 1800s). Enter the pāʻū skirt: up to 25 yards of fabric wrapped and folded to form a flowing, culotte-style garment acted as a riding habit, fastened atop the outfit — often times a holokū gown — to protect it from the elements while on horseback and taken off upon arrival at a social function. Pāʻū was treated much like how we use raincoats today, a garment of pure practicality.

The first pāʻū were kapa soaked in kamani oil to render it waterproof; later, materials like cotton and calico. Simple fabrics gave way to the ornate. Satin and silk in striking colors were folded in various styles, bustles and pleats fastened with kukui nuts by expert pāʻū drapers.

Ladies leisurely rode about or competed in street races, whichever they fancied. By the late 1800s, the pāʻū rider was a common sight in both town and country. For Western observers, she may have signified liberation, an eschewing of patriarchal customs or an act of revolt. Here was a Hawaiian woman, untethered to a man, riding free in the streets. In reality, these women riders were not resisting anything. They were simply Hawai‘i women enjoying themselves.

The pāʻū tradition continues today in floral parades and are an enduring testament to Hawaiian showmanship and style, says Kimo Alama Keaulana, modern-day pāʻū draper. “I always tell people without pāʻū riders, you don’t have a Hawaiian parade. You just have a parade.”

Story by Eunica Escalante (). Images from Hawai‘i State Archives.

05/06/2023

: The voluminous dress of pāʻū riders, c. 1880s.

Form follows function for Native Hawaiian equestrians named after the billowy skirts that became their trademark. Pāʻū came to prominence in the 19th century, after the introduction of horses to made horseback the islands’ primary mode of transportation.

Hawaiian women, however, eschewed the sidesaddle, a Western method of riding meant to keep women modest, but which only succeeded in making the act more cumbersome. Instead, they rode astride.

With this riding style came a dilemma. Popular dress of the era with its floor-length skirts made riding astride uncomfortable (women’s trousers weren’t socially acceptable until the late 1800s). Enter the pāʻū skirt: up to 25 yards of fabric wrapped and folded to form a flowing, culotte-style garment acted as a riding habit, fastened atop the outfit — often times a holokū gown — to protect it from the elements while on horseback and taken off upon arrival at a social function. Pāʻū was treated much like how we use raincoats today, a garment of pure practicality.

The first pāʻū were kapa soaked in kamani oil to render it waterproof; later, materials like cotton and calico. Simple fabrics gave way to the ornate. Satin and silk in striking colors were folded in various styles, bustles and pleats fastened with kukui nuts by expert pāʻū drapers.

Ladies leisurely rode about or competed in street races, whichever they fancied. By the late 1800s, the pāʻū rider was a common sight in both town and country. For Western observers, she may have signified liberation, an eschewing of patriarchal customs or an act of revolt. Here was a Hawaiian woman, untethered to a man, riding free in the streets. In reality, these women riders were not resisting anything. They were simply Hawai‘i women enjoying themselves.

The pāʻū tradition continues today in floral parades as an enduring testament to Hawaiian showmanship and style, says Kimo Alama Keaulana, a modern-day pāʻū draper. “I always tell people without pāʻū riders, you don’t have a Hawaiian parade. You just have a parade.”

Story by Eunica Escalante (). Images from Hawai‘i State Archives.

26/05/2023

: Lei making is a family affair, 1959. Image by Ralph Crane.

24/05/2023

“Cerulean” by M. Kaleipumehana Cabral (). Art by Pūlama Long (). On the parting page of our magazine, we leave readers with a poem by a poet, and a local artist is invited to interpret those words into original artwork. Discover more island poetry in Flux Hawai‘i.

24/05/2023

“Cerulean” by M. Kaleipumehana Cabral (). Art by Pūlama Long (). On the parting page of our magazine, we leave readers with a poem by a Hawai‘i poet, and a local artist is invited to interpret those words into an original artwork. Discover more island poetry in Flux Hawai‘i.

23/05/2023

Joni Bagood is one of the last remaining full-time residents of Mokauea Island, the 13-acre site of O‘ahu’s last traditional fishing village.

Though a short swim from O‘ahu, Mokauea feels a world away from what Bagood calls “the mainland,” and the rubbish that accumulates near her front door is a constant reminder of Hawai‘i’s ongoing industrialization. Her adult son, BJ, a carpenter by trade, returns often to work on the family home, which sits on stilts overlooking the busy Kalihi Channel, where she and her husband live.

In the 1970s, the state made multiple attempts to evict families like theirs to build an airport extension and burned down five homes. Bagood remembers her grandmother and father fighting those eviction threats. “There was another fisherman, a friend of ours who lived at Mokuoeao, the island across the channel,” she recalls. “He said, ‘I built this house with my two hands. I can’t let them burn it down. I have to do it myself.’”

This state-sponsored arson triggered a public outcry and leases were granted to 14 families who lived in the village and established the Mokauea Fishermen’s Association to preserve the traditional way of life on the island.

That sea-based lifestyle, full of daily observations on the tides and weather and natural habitat, has made Bagood protective of her home, and of the ecosystem that once provided thousands across O‘ahu’s south shore with an abundance of wild seafood.

Keeping Mokauea’s history alive — the good and the bad — is important to Bagood, who will never forget those times the state tried to destroy Mokauea and the arrests of protesters and fishers who refused to leave. “My husband is the last of that generation of fisherman,” she says, “but he doesn’t like to talk about it, unlike me.”

Story by Sonny Ganaden (). Images by .

17/05/2023

At Hāna Kū, a cadre of illustrious chefs come together with an East Maui community where the kua‘āina lifestyle persists.⁠
⁠
These two groups — acclaimed award-winning chefs and everyday hunter-gatherers — embarked on what might have first appeared to be an unlikely friendship when they initially met in 2016. But their meeting was initiated by , a Native Hawaiian-run retreat center in Hāna that privileges engagement with the immediate local community first and foremost. ⁠
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Hāna Kū, one of Ala Kukui’s main programs, unites these folks together to integrate and deepen their practice and heighten their self awareness through holoholo, cooking together, and talking story into the night.⁠
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Full read at the link in our bio. Story and images by . Images on slides four and five by Keith Brock.

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FLUX HAWAII Issue No. 46 — On newsstands today! Where we examine the topic of housing in its various local forms and meanings. Featuring stories that illustrate the beauty and struggles of calling Hawaiʻi home, and highlighting those who challenge how to make, keep, and preserve our ways of life in the islands today. Subscribe at the link in our bio. — FLUX HAWAII — the Magazine⁠ Editor @mattdnf Editorial Director Lauren McNally ⁠ Managing Editor @eunicaescalante Managing Designer @taylorniimoto Designers @eleazarherradura⁠ @shikarabu ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i Editor @metamorphite⁠ Senior Editor @raesojot⁠ Contributing Editors @a_nnn_a @lisayamadason Senior Photographer @john_hook⁠ Producer @taykondo⁠ Maui Producer @ajatoscano Intern @kaiafterall Operations Director @sabrinebrinou⁠ Traffic Manager @sweetsheribombbomb ⁠ Partner/GM, Hawai‘i @joebock⁠ Publisher @jcut

Floral artist Ren MacDonald-Balasia (@renkofloral) finds uncommon beauty in everyday materials, whether it’s coral vine weeds growing by the roadside or piles of tropical fruit from a Chinatown market. Through her avant-garde arrangements—loud, obnoxious, and often times alien-esque structures—she transforms the overlooked into eerie expressions of nature.  In the latest episode of In Flux, MacDonald-Balasia gives us a peek behind her process, from foraging materials to the spontaneity inherent in her work. Watch the full episode at fluxhawaii.com/videos.

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