As a child, Carol Wyban was inspired by books and illustrations. At the University of Hawaii, she studied psychology, Fine Art and Dance. Her studies and life changed when she met and married a fish biologist in the completion phase of his PhD.
Unemployed with a young family, Jim and Carol Wyban believed that they were creators of their own future. They placed an advertisement in the Honolulu Star Bulletin that read, “PhD with family seeks Aquaculture Opportunity.” The one phone call received brought them to live and work at Lokoea, the pond of life, birth and mist on the north shore of O’ahu.
After 3 years, at Lokoea, Jim began a new career track at the Oceanic Institute in marine shrimp aquaculture. Carol continued her adventure with ancient fishponds on O’ahu, Moloka’i, and the Big Island. She states, “These fishponds still shimmer with life an e ho of times past in the history and culture of Hawaii.”
Carol believes that Hawaiian fishponds are cultural treasures that provide a deep and profound insight of ancient Hawaiian perspectives in relation to their environment. The manner in which they understood the fish in the sea and the features of the land and water was deeply intuitive and integrated. They honored the land and water in the development of their food resources. The land to water management system of the ahuapua’a and fishponds can teach us how to manage our natural resources today.
These concepts are the inspiration for Carol Arakaki Wyban’s artwork.