whose paradise? a Didactic (de) Tour Project
a postcard project
Creators: Karen K. Kosasa and Stan Tomita
Summary of Project
Stan and I are third-generation Japanese American settlers. In 2001 we created a postcard project for an art exhibition on tourism at CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, New York. We titled the work “whose paradise? a DIDACTIC (de) TOUR project” and produced three postcards for it.
We wanted the postcards to complement our other art work and art installations on the invisibility of settler colonialism in Hawai‘i. We also created “whose paradise?” to counter the ubiquitous “wish you were here” sentiment of postcards. And unlike our usual work, we wanted to be straightforwardly direct and didactic. Our images were linked to specific interpretations, leaving little room for speculation.
In the art world, didactic art is considered “bad” art because it dictates the meaning(s) of an image and limits the viewer’s participation in the meaning-making process. It is frequently associated with communist propaganda art and most artists are trained to avoid it. For our postcard project, however, prescribing the meanings of our images was essential. Being didactic was necessarily strategic and our contribution to “responsible tourism.”
Our project continues the work Stan and I began in 2001, but with a set of four new and improved postcards. One is entire new, while three are significantly “improved” versions of previous ones. In our signature postcard we recognize the growing discussions on occupation alongside conversations about settler colonialism. We include references to both situations in an image of clouds above hotels along Waikīkī Beach to underscore the complexity of the political context(s) in Hawai‘i. The other postcards refer to the difficulty of finding a references to the site of the 1893 overthrow, an excerpt from the 1993 Apology Bill, and the construction of a thirty meter telescope on Hawai‘i island. In two instances our explanations are so lengthy they leave little space for the visitor/sender to write a personal message. This is regrettable but of secondary concern. What is more crucial is showing that the significance of the image on the front may not be immediately understood by everyone. Its meanings must be decoded on the back. Even then, what we offer is not adequate but a start.
Our postcards function well in classes. Teachers use them to encourage classroom conversations about the content of our postcards and related issues, and to show a simple format for speaking back to the world. Stan and I are pleased to be a part of a respected tradition of using this ubiquitous and innocuous tourist object to counter expected, hegemonic messages. Furthermore, we are grateful to be included in an anthology committed to pedagogy (see below), to providing readers and viewers with insights and perspectives about Hawai‘i not always available, accessible, or visible unless you are trained to look for them.
Karen K. Kosasa
Graphic Designers
We would like to acknowledge the graphic designers who assisted us with the postcards: Carissa DeGuzman (2001) and Paul Iseri (2018). Their expertise was invaluable.
New Publication
We are pleased to announce that our postcard series is featured in an important anthology Detours: A Decolonial Guide to Hawai‘i along with other art works, maps, and exciting articles. This anthology is edited by Vernadette Gonzalez and Hokulani K. Aikau, Duke University Press.
The anthology can be purchased at:
Nā Mea Hawaiʻi
Duke University Press