ALA NIHO
Size: 10” x 10” x 1”
Medium: Monoprint series of 10 - Paper - mounted on birch ply board
2021
Ala Niho is a series of ten monoprints, each mounted on 10” x 10” birch plywood panels. The title, meaning “path of the tooth,” references the sharp, patterned edges of traditional shark tooth weapons and their deeper cultural symbolism within Hawaiian knowledge systems.
Each print in the series is a meditation on rhythm, repetition, and form—invoking the serrated motifs of niho (teeth) as visual metaphors for strength, protection, and ancestral lineage. The use of monoprinting allows for subtle variations in texture and tone, creating unique impressions that echo the layered complexity of cultural memory.
Mounted on natural birch ply, the prints invite a tactile engagement with material and story. As a whole, Ala Niho becomes both a conceptual and physical path—one that traces the contours of heritage, resilience, and the enduring presence of ancestral design in contemporary form
THE PROCESS
ʻAla Niho was created through a layered process of painting, printmaking, and symbolic abstraction, culminating in the application of wax to seal the final surface. The title—referring to “tooth-like paths” or ancestral ridgelines—anchors the work in Kanaka Maoli understandings of lineage, movement, and encoded knowledge. Clark began by building up a visual field of repeated forms, glyphs, and geometric structures, invoking both traditional patterns and speculative Indigenous futures. These motifs were layered through print-based techniques and gestural marks to suggest maps, chants, and the spatial memory of land and kinship. The final sealing in wax acts as both a material and metaphorical gesture—preserving the layered marks beneath while softening the surface with a translucent veil. This technique evokes the idea of protection, permanence, and sacred containment, reinforcing the notion that knowledge can be held, concealed, or revealed across time. Through ʻAla Niho, Clark continues his exploration of Indigenous abstraction as a practice of cultural transmission—where process becomes a form of ceremony, and surface becomes a vessel for ancestral presence.
