Sands of Time by Sunny Seal
“This is a recreation of a lei hulu (feathered lei) from the 1700’s that I made according to practices that were handed down from the past. I am a feather worker who has been validated by my kumu Doreen Moana Henderson, a ‘Living Treasure’, her kumu was Mary Kahihilani Kovich who learned from Mary Kekuewa. It is King Kamehameha’s legacy that he forbade his kia manu (bird catchers) from taking the life of birds after gathering feathers from them. That way future generations would know the beauty of these birds as ʻliving jewels’. Many of those bird species did not survive. I have prepared the feathers to resemble the look of the lei I am recreating, displayed in a custom wooden shadowbox.” – Sunny Seal
