Artwork Information

The view looks from Hikiau Heiau across Kealakekua Bay towards Ka’awaloa, where on 14 February 1779, Captain Cook was killed for the attempted kidnapping of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, aliʻi nui (reigning chief) of Hawai‘i. Cook’s body was treated in accordance with Hawaiian chiefly protocols, and some of his bones were returned to the ship as requested for burial at sea in the bay.

“As far as divided memories go, this is a loaded site. Adams photographs the bay at dusk, framing the far shore where Cook was slain as a distant silhouette tapering to nothing between sea and sky. An obelisk erected to the navigator’s memory is barely discernible in the blackness – it’s only a tiny sliver of grey visible if you search for it. What is not apparent in the photograph, however, is that the viewer is positioned at the base of an unseen heiau, a Hawaiian temple site, where Cook was ceremonially inducted into the rites of the god Lono. We are thus between two memorials, two ‘memory systems’: European and Hawaiian. To see one is not to see the other. As one disappears into the landscape, the other looms behind.” – Dr Peter Brunt

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Mark Adams: A Survey | He Kohinga Whakaahua, 2025