Kaanohi Kaleikini | Honolulu Magazine

Paulette Kaanohi Kaleikini is a Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner whose dedicated her life to her kuleana, protecting the iwi, which means to honor and take care of the bones of Hawaiian ancestors and protect ancestral burial sites which are now being threatened and desecrated as retail outlets and the rail projects are built up throughout Honolulu. We photographed her at the Walmart and TJ Maxx burial mounds and as she oversaw trenching for the new rail constuction for this Honolulu Magazine feature.

Burial materials used for iwi kupuna reburial ceremonies.

Kaanohi at the TJ Maxx burial mound site.

At the Walmart burial mound site.

Kaanohi talks with her cousin, cultural monitor, Kaleo, while overseeing trenching at a rail construction site.
The Walmart burial mound.
TJ Maxx burial mound
Trenching at a rail construction site.
Kaanohi talks with her nephew JR, cultural monitor at the rail construction site.