Kumulipo, known as the Hawaiian chant of creation, is both a cosmogonic and genealogical prayer chant. It describes the formation of the universe, from the first spark of life within the primordial darkness, to its unfoldment into the divine child, and all forms of existence.
The ground and the underground, its genesis and its transformations has always been a major interest to me. So painting in direct contact with the natural ground became an evidence for me. I started working on unstretched canvases spread on the rocks of a dry riverbed nearby, and in an old imu, a Hawaiian collective earth oven.
This became my painting process, and the Kumulipo paintings were born that way. It was a determinant work in this respect and the start of an ongoing series.