Portfolio | Hawai’i | Olaf Heine 

My book ‘Hawaii’ is about the elementary as well as the spiritual meaning of the ocean. The sea is like a welcoming and overwhelming revelation. It connects the islands, the continents and the people. It makes no distinction between the first and the third world, between ethnic groups and religions, between rich and poor. “Ho’onalu” is a Hawaiian phrase meaning “to be like a wave”. It should help to remember that in the end we are all the same.

There is something about the islands, about the values of the people and the community in Hawaii that speaks to me. I am not sure if it is the laid back surf culture, the sunny beach life, the diversity culture of people and places, the Aloha spirit or the stories, chants and songs that Polynesian people like the Hawaiians on those small islands might have developed over centuries as a method to pass on their codified learnings and understandings.

I guess it could be a mixture of all of it; the humanity in those Aloha values, the altruistic concept of unity and guidance to share mind and heart with each other, to behave with kindness and generosity, to show respect and to care with no obligation in return. That kind of essence in relationships embraced and framed by the mind-boggling beauty that is Hawaii.

But of course the more time I spent on the islands and the more people I got to know, the more I had a chance to look beyond the exotic elegance and sheer lushness of land and nature. It was like holding up a spying glass and spotting somewhat puzzled the same kind of problems that the world apparently faces everywhere: Homelessness, racism, disparities, displacement, gentrification, climate change, pollution, etc.

Hawaii seems to be facing some enormous and serious challenges in the near future – on land as well as in the sea. The ocean is the secret architect of Hawaii. Its water continuously changes the shapes of the islands here. It is both life-giving and threatening, a fluid and transformative element whose all-encompassing fertility continually modulates the volcanic stone into new land. At the same time, the extent and consequences of human actions and their effects are made abundantly clear – whether erosion on the beaches or plastic in the sea. There is a photograph I took near the South end of the Big Island on a beach that was covered in plastic from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Horrendous!

But Hawai‘i is a wonderous place for all kinds of reasons and I found myself returning to the islands constantly over the last two decades. Or to quote the great Joan Didion: “I spent what seemed to many people I knew an eccentric amount of time in Hawai‘i”. It is a place of extremes, one of the most biodiverse and pristine regions on earth. It is a mirror image of our planet, a microcosm showing that the power of nature is the regulative principle that navigates human mankind and his sphere of influence. I am a portrait photographer for the most part, trying to observe and analyze, characterize a subject or theme and formulate a narrative from my personal perspective. But when the thought popped up, that my photographic work in Hawai‘i could be more than just a loose collection of images, I specifically tried to create room for a multitude of angles on the subject.

I wanted to contrast the pacific landscape and geography of the ocean with the diversity and individuality of the people. Therefore I refrained from using distracting colors and instead tried to allow a more intense and puristic Black-And-White view on Hawaii. That way I attempt to formulate my perspective on the ardour and sensuality of Hawaii. My photography usually is about what shapes you as a person but also as an artist. It’s about being human – and being creative in particular. In this respect, my photographs are narratives of my encounters. A lot of them revolve around creative practice, the creative process and the relationship between the artists I portray, their environment, their emotions and what influences them. 

In Hawaii the environment is the lively, restless ocean that determines the rhythm of the eight islands and their inhabitants. It imbues life here and defines people – whether fishermen, surfers or tourists. I wanted to learn through my encounters and gain insights into what motivates each person, what excites them but also frightens them, what drives and moves them. I tried to formulate my perspective on the person portrayed and thus arouse in the viewer the desire to perhaps want to find out a little more about the connections, the basics and conditions of the person in question.

Hawai’i is published by te Neues Publishers, teneues.com. Get it at amazon.com or accartbooks.com