Ulumau
Pohaku Pele.

Pele is the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes, fire, lightning, and creation — one of the most powerful and complex figures in the Hawaiian spiritual worldview. She is credited with creating the Hawaiian archipelago itself through the slow accumulation of lava over millions of years. Her mythological home is in the active craters of Kīlauea on the Big Island, and she is understood to be both a destructive force and the ultimate creator of new land. Pele's mythology involves constant movement, transformation, and the relationship between the human and divine in a volcanic landscape.

The Ulumau Pohaku Pele sculpture honors this deity through the use of lava rock — pohaku — the literal material of Pele's creative act. The name "Ulumau" carries connotations of growth and continuity, suggesting a living presence rather than a static monument. Works like this are part of a broader Hawaiian cultural renaissance that has gained momentum since the 1970s, during which Native Hawaiian artists, practitioners, and communities have worked to assert and restore cultural traditions that were suppressed during the colonial and territorial periods.

Public art honoring Hawaiian deities and cosmological concepts is increasingly present across the islands as an act of cultural affirmation. These works serve as visual reminders that the Hawaiian spiritual relationship with the land — particularly the volcanic land — has persisted through centuries of colonial disruption and continues to shape the worldview of many Native Hawaiians and those connected to island culture.