Redacting Paradise –Diamond Head, 2009, magazine image + wite-out tape, 8”H x 8”W”x1”. I started my “Redacting” series in Hawaii as a commentary to the ever disappearing vista of the shoreline due to the increase of the construction of high rises. More importantly, my underlying concern is how much development impacts the environment and natural resources compounded with the social and economic effects on communities. The images are photos from tourist consumer magazines of Hawaii and using wite-out tape, the scenery is “redacted” with images of a construction site of buildings.

Redacting Paradise-Maui, 2009, magazine image + wite-out tape, 8”H x 8”W”x1”. The supply and demand of tourism and foreign investors have encroached on the islands outside of Honolulu, Oahu. Joni Mitchell’s song, Big Yellow Taxi, written about a paved paradise in 1970 after a trip to Hawaii is prophetic. “…you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” I selected several images from Maui, Kauai and the Big Island to create imaginary developments as a concept of what could potentially happen.

Redacting Paradise – Kauai, 2010, magazine image + wite-out tape, 8”H x 12” W. The Redacting series include images from less urban areas in Hawaii on the islands of Kauai, Maui, and Big Island. The purpose for these scenic images is to fast forward into the future to envision what these places could look like without management of growth. A book I read in my childhood has been a great influence in my life, The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton. A child’s storybook note for its insights on urban sprawl.

Redacting Paradise – Waikiki, 2009, magazine image + wite-out tape, 8”H x 8”W. The images of my redacting series are photos from tourist consumer magazines of Hawaii and using wite-out tape, the scenery is “redacted” with images of a construction site of buildings. Of course, the critical mass of buildings is in Honolulu and Waikiki, but I grew up in Hawaii in the 50s, so I have witnessed the drastic changes since statehood in 1959. Construction of high rises is unabated. This series is contemplative of what is gone (even in Waikiki); a maudlin iteration of the past.

Gold Plated Sand Castles-Waikiki.16, 2007. Sand & acrylic on paper, 18”H x 22.5”W. As a child, I built sand castles close to where the waves would wash onto the beach. Today, with sand glued onto paper, my sand structures are representations of the string of hotels that sit on Waikiki Beach. Coastal developments affect the fluctuation of the shoreline and the depleted shoreline is replenished with truckloads of sand periodically. Global warming is omnipresent and the sea level rising is now predicted to happen sooner than later. Concerns do not stop the sprawl on the beach.

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