Three Windward Community College photography students are taking their work beyond the classroom and into a public exhibition alongside their professor and mentor, Native Hawaiian artist and photographer Kapulani Landgraf.
Richard Heirakuji, Lily Kamālamalama Kelly-Jervis and Shiloh Perkins are featured with Landgraf in PUKA, a photography exhibition at the First Hawaiian Center in downtown Honolulu.
The opportunity grew out of the students’ work with Landgraf. After teaching the three in ART 207, she invited them to continue their development through ART 299, an independent study course.
While the possibility of exhibiting at the First Hawaiian Center was an incentive, Landgraf said it was never guaranteed. The students had to develop cohesive bodies of work that met the standard for public exhibition.
Beyond taking photographs
Heirakuji’s work explores his relationship with Kohala, the birthplace of his ancestors. He said Landgraf challenged the students to think beyond individual photographs through research, community connections and storytelling.
Kelly-Jervis developed her technical skills in black-and-white film photography and darkroom printing while exploring her relationship to hala through her 尘辞ʻ辞办ūʻ补耻 and Keanahala, a community weaving program under Puʻuhonua Society.
笔别谤办颈苍蝉’ Paʻa is a portrait series rooted in her family’s ties to Waiʻanae Moku and offers a perspective of a place she says is too often defined externally by what it lacks.
“PUKA marks a moment of opening,” Landgraf said. “It is an opportunity to share work publicly, to step into visibility, and to begin the lifelong journey of developing a visual voice.”
PUKA is on view through March 25, 2027, at the First Hawaiian Center, in Honolulu. The exhibition is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
