Artist Laura Kina draws upon her Okinawan and Hawaiian heritage in this work, referencing techniques, traditions, materials, and symbols. Hajichi, a traditional tattoo practice, uses indigo to create distinctive markings on the hands of women from Okinawa (a Japanese island with distinctive cultural traditions). Kina states, “hajichi (tattoos) were used for protection, beautification, rites of passage, shima (island) markers, and as a woman’s passport to the afterlife.”
She uses the tradition of Japanese embroidery, called sashiko, to create the outlines of a woman’s hands in this work. The indigo patchwork on the small quilt recalls the indigo-dyed kimonos her great-grandmother wore when immigrating in 1919 from Okinawa as a picture bride to become a sugarcane plantation worker on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kina states, “Issei (first-generation) workers upcycled old kimonos into work clothes.” Kina’s use of camouflage reflects the U.S. military in Hawaii and Okinawa. The quilt is backed with a blue Hawaiian palaka checkered pattern, historically used for plantation and paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) shirts.