Puʻuhonua Society began in 1972 as the Young of Heart Gallery & Workshop, founded on the Windward side of Oʻahu by Emma Aluli Meyer to support Hawaiʻi youth through art and cultural education. In 1996, her third daughter, Maile Meyer, transformed the organization into Puʻuhonua Society, named for the Hawaiian term puʻuhonua, meaning “place of refuge.” Today, Emma Manu-Broderick, Maile’s eldest daughter, cares for the organization, often collaborating with her brother, Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick. At the intersection of contemporary art, traditional cultural practices, and environmental stewardship, Puʻuhonua Society provides opportunities to Native Hawaiian and Hawaiʻi-based artists and makers.

J.D. Nālamakūikapō Ahsing, Moana Nui Akea, 2019. Linocut on paper. Installation view in He Noho Pili Kua He Noho Pili Alo at Aupuni Space, Kakaʻako, Kona, Oʻahu, October 11–November 12, 2020. Courtesy Aupuni Space. Photo: Donnie Cervantes

In fall 2025, Hōkūleʻa: 50 Years of Polynesian Voyaging, co-organized with the Polynesian Voyaging Society, will present an intergenerational group exhibition of Native Hawaiian and Hawaiʻi-based artists and poets. The exhibition will bring together works by Nālamakūikapō Ahsing, Kaili Chun, ʻĪmaikalani Kalāhele, and Cory Kamehanaokalā Holt Taum; a historical installation featuring fifty years of photographs and archival material from the Hōkūleʻa’s trans-Pacific journeys; and a series of public dialogues on navigation, memory, and responsibility to place.

Uncle Noa Emmett Aluli and Aunty Davianna Pōmaikaʻi McGregor lead a group in a moment of rest and reflection in relation to the surrounding islands and ocean, Moaʻulaiki, Kahoʻolawe, Hawaiʻi, September 14, 2019. Courtesy Puʻuhonua Society and The ʻOhana. Photo: Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick

In 2026, I OLA KANALOA: Life to Kahoʻolawe will be presented in collaboration with the Protect Kahoʻolawe ʻOhana (The ʻOhana), a grassroots organization dedicated to the island of Kaho‘olawe, the smallest of the eight main Hawaiian islands. The culmination of multiple artist trips to the island, the exhibition at Honolulu Hale will mark the fiftieth anniversary of The ʻOhana. Installations by artists such as Meleanna Aluli Meyer, Carl F.K. Pao, and Brandy Nālani McDougall will respond to themes of military occupation, ecological restoration, and sovereignty.

In 2027, Revisiting Kealakekua Bay, Reworking the Captain Cook Monument will bring together eight artists and collectives—including Sean Connelly, Gaye Chan, and maliewai productions—to stage speculative interventions around the white obelisk commemorating Cook on the Kona coast of Hawaiʻi Island. The project will conclude with an exhibition and series of panels at the nearby Donkey Mill Art Center, accompanied by a publication highlighting artistic responses to settler monuments and contested histories.

Drew Kahuʻāina Broderick is an artist, curator, educator, and writer from Mōkapu, Kailua, Koʻolaupoko. Raised in a deep-rooted matriarchy on the Windward side of Oʻahu, his work is guided by the multigenerational efforts of Native Hawaiian women—especially his mother, aunties, and maternal grandmother—who have devoted their lives to art, culture, healing, and community in Hawaiʻi. From 2019 to 2024, Broderick served as Director of Koa Gallery at Kapiʻolani Community College (Honolulu). Recently, he co-curated ʻAi ā manō (2024) with Kapulani Landgraf and Kaili Chun; ʻAi Pōhaku, Stone Eaters (2023) with Josh Tengan and Noelle M.K.Y. Kahanu; and Hawaiʻi Triennial 2022: Pacific Century–E Hoʻomau no Moananuiākea with Miwako Tezuka and Melissa Chiu. Previously, he operated the community venue SPF Projects (Honolulu, 2012–16) and co-founded the annual open call thematic exhibition, CONTACT (2014–19). He is a founding member of the grassroots film initiative kekahi wahi (est. 2020) along with filmmaker Sancia Miala Shiba Nash.

Ed Gomez, Luis G. Hernandez, María Esther Fernández, MexiCali Biennial with The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum