E Ala E Hawaiian Cultural Center is excited to announce the addition of Kumu Keone Nunes to our Advisory Council! The council provides guidance to our leadership for carrying out our center’s mission and vision and to promote and perpetuate the spirit of aloha throughout our communities and beyond.
Kumu Keone is renown throughout the world as a master in the ancient Polynesian practice of kākau (tattoo). He once said that the art of tattooing transcends the aesthetic aspect of body adornment – instead, it’s a gateway to a person’s ancestry. “It’s an unfiltered way of getting in touch with who you are as an individual.”
Raised on the island of O`ahu, Kumu Keone merely sees himself as a simple practitioner of an indigenous Polynesian craft. While he doesn’t restrict himself to tattooing only people of Hawaiian descent, he is selective about his subjects. “I’m interested in tattooing people who are committed to the culture [from] which they come,” he says. “I’m interested in people who have a genuine appreciation of the process because it is, in many cases, a leap of faith.”
We, at E Ala E Hawaiian Cultural Center, are thrilled to have Kumu Keone onboard and look forward to being guided by his cultural `ike (knowledge) and to a fantastic cultural journey with him!
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