Kepola Dudoit Discovered Art in Prison + Honors Queen Liliuokalani with 5 Quilling Pieces in “A Petal of Inspiration”

I wanted to make sure that I created artwork that would honor the Queen and the YWCA. I began talking with friends and one mentioned to me, “well, Kepola, you know that the flag for our Hawaiian people is the crown of the Island.” This impacted me. I knew I needed to incorporate it into this display. I also wanted to include “Ua Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono” (“The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”) on the flag because it is such a significant motto for Hawaii’s people. I wrote the motto in yellow not only because it was her favorite color, but because it was the color of her reign.

I originally wanted to create the peacock dress that I had learned was the gown Queen Liliuokalani wore to Queen Victoria’s 1887 Jubilee. However, as I was doing research, I just felt that intuition hit me. God tole me to just check again. I was re-learning so much about the Queen. Sure enough, when I checked it was not Queen Liliuokalani’s – it was actually Queen Kapiolani’s dress. I went back and continued to research. I wanted to find a gown that represented Queen Liliuokalani. I finally found her ostrich-lilac feathered dress. I created my own interpretation of her dress, which is believed to be the last commissioned gown the Queen had while being a sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

I felt compelled to do the inner seal of the State of Hawaii. This is, after all, our crest – our seal that makes Hawaii, Hawaii. To me, the inner part of the seal looks like a shield, like a breastplate of righteousness and a shield that represents the eight main islands of Hawaii.

I wanted to incorporate the Queen’s motto. She was the head of the Onipaa movement (meaning “immovable, steadfast, and firm”) whose motto was “Hawaii for the Hawaiians.” Liliuokalani fought against annexation of the islands by the United States.

I surrounded the motto with her favorite flower, the crown flower. The Queen’s garden was something very important to her, and her loyal supporters planted crown flowers and her other favorite flowers during her house arrest. However, I chose shades of purple not only due to the crown flower, but because purple is the color of royalty and gracefulness which the Queen embodied.

This mele is incredibly important to me. It is one of the most famous and cherished pieces of her music. This song is very special to me because I sang it while growing up as a farewell song. I would sing it when my family and friends were leaving, knowing we would see each other again. I also wanted to include the flowers… not only because of how important her garden was to Queen Liliuokalani, but also because of their hidden significance. While the Queen was under house arrest, she was not able to get outside information. However, her loyal supporters would often bring her favorite flowers, which were allowed. They used this as a way to sneak information to the Queen by wrapping the flowers in newspaper so the Queen could be kept up to date on what was happening to her people.