Nā ʻAumakua is a layered acrylic work that explores how unseen influences—history, values, and inherited knowledge—continue to shape perception and decision-making. Developed through Indigenous abstraction, the work is less about representation and more about cultivating awareness: learning to recognize what is present, even when it is not immediately visible.

The painting was built through iterative layering, reflecting a process that values attention, patience, and informed response over speed or fixed outcomes. Rather than prescribing meaning, the work holds space for multiple interpretations, mirroring how insight and clarity often emerge in complex environments through observation and relationship.

References to natural forces—wind, water, cloud, and light—signal that guidance and intelligence are embedded within context and systems, not imposed from above. In this way, Nā ʻAumakua functions as both an artwork and a practice example, demonstrating how clarity, accountability, and alignment can be achieved by listening carefully to context rather than overriding it.

Rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing, the work offers a framework for thinking about leadership, responsibility, and continuity—particularly when navigating uncertainty, change, and long-term impact.