Beyond Conservation

Modeling Meaningful Community Collaboration in Hawai'i

Abstract

Glenn Wharton's The Painted King: Art, Activism, and Authenticity in Hawai'i (2012) provides illuminating insight into decolonizing conservation practices. Focused on the restoration of the Kamehameha statue in North Kohala on Hawai'i island, the book's careful attention to the process of sharing decision making with diverse comrnunities provides a striking example, relevant to many beyond conservationists, of how to ethically bridge divides between institutions, experts, and laypeople. The book demonstrates how, despite challenges that must be patiently worked through, heritage conservation projects founded in participation and dialogue can effectively address complex social, cultural, and political identities in Hawai'i as well as generate civic dialogue and social change. This essay highlights several rich connections between this conservation project and other art, preservation, and state-directed projects that resonate with or could benefit from the lessons shared in The Painted King.