Lei for “The Lei Maker” (2023) is a two-day event that takes as its starting point a painting in oil on canvas, The Lei Maker (1901) by Theodore Wores (United States, 1859–1939), currently in the holdings of Honolulu Museum of Art (chartered 1922). For decades, Honolulu Museum of Art has capitalized on The Lei Maker, reducing the painting and its subject to nothing more than an exhausted mascot whose overused image circulates with little regard for larger conversations around ongoing cultural exploitation in Hawaiʻi.

In this two-day art installation and event, artist 50th State Kid and friends explore, pay homage, and make lei for this ubiquitous icon.