Wai Hookahe - Alison Moritsugu

Wai Hookahe

2007
38” x 46 5/8” x 46 5/8”
Foam, epoxy, plastic tubing and pump, water, wood, gravel

Wai Hookahe is a functioning fountain: water flows down the mountain into a pool depicting sugar cane and pineapple plants and inspired by Hawaiian quilt motifs. This seemingly tranquil fountain alludes to contentious issues of water rights. In the late 1800s, counter to the Hawaiian principles of land use based on ahupua‘a, ditches and reservoirs were built to divert water far from its natural course for the irrigation of pineapple and water-hungry sugar cane crops. Since then, small subsistence farmers, large agricultural industries and residential developments have fought over Hawai‘i’s water rights.

Wai Hookahe

2007
38” x 46 5/8” x 46 5/8”
Foam, epoxy, plastic tubing and pump, water, wood, gravel

Wai Hookahe is a functioning fountain: water flows down the mountain into a pool depicting sugar cane and pineapple plants and inspired by Hawaiian quilt motifs. This seemingly tranquil fountain alludes to contentious issues of water rights. In the late 1800s, counter to the Hawaiian principles of land use based on ahupua‘a, ditches and reservoirs were built to divert water far from its natural course for the irrigation of pineapple and water-hungry sugar cane crops. Since then, small subsistence farmers, large agricultural industries and residential developments have fought over Hawai‘i’s water rights.

2007
38” x 46 5/8” x 46 5/8”
Foam, epoxy, plastic tubing and pump, water, wood, gravel

Wai Hookahe is a functioning fountain: water flows down the mountain into a pool depicting sugar cane and pineapple plants and inspired by Hawaiian quilt motifs. This seemingly tranquil fountain alludes to contentious issues of water rights. In the late 1800s, counter to the Hawaiian principles of land use based on ahupua‘a, ditches and reservoirs were built to divert water far from its natural course for the irrigation of pineapple and water-hungry sugar cane crops. Since then, small subsistence farmers, large agricultural industries and residential developments have fought over Hawai‘i’s water rights.

2007
38” x 46 5/8” x 46 5/8”
Foam, epoxy, plastic tubing and pump, water, wood, gravel

Installation view:
Alison Moritsugu, solo exhibition at Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, CA, 2008.

Wai Hookahe is a functioning fountain: water flows down the mountain into a pool depicting sugar cane and pineapple plants and inspired by Hawaiian quilt motifs. This seemingly tranquil fountain alludes to contentious issues of water rights. In the late 1800s, counter to the Hawaiian principles of land use based on ahupua‘a, ditches and reservoirs were built to divert water far from its natural course for the irrigation of pineapple and water-hungry sugar cane crops. Since then, small subsistence farmers, large agricultural industries and residential developments have fought over Hawai‘i’s water rights.

2007
38” x 46 5/8” x 46 5/8”
Foam, epoxy, plastic tubing and pump, water, wood, gravel

Wai Hookahe is a functioning fountain: water flows down the mountain into a pool depicting sugar cane and pineapple plants and inspired by Hawaiian quilt motifs. This seemingly tranquil fountain alludes to contentious issues of water rights. In the late 1800s, counter to the Hawaiian principles of land use based on ahupua‘a, ditches and reservoirs were built to divert water far from its natural course for the irrigation of pineapple and water-hungry sugar cane crops. Since then, small subsistence farmers, large agricultural industries and residential developments have fought over Hawai‘i’s water rights.