Shannon Benine

If you can read the ocean you will never be lost, 2014—ongoing

Created during the final years of the few remaining patients at the last working leper colony in the United States, this project examines the history of disability and environmental activism surrounding those affected by Hansen’s disease (leprosy) who were banished to the remote Kalaupapa peninsula from 1866-1969 on the north shore of Molokai, Hawai’i. Working with the two main employers at the settlement, the Kalaupapa National Historical Park and the Hawai’i Department of Health, and the few remaining patients, this project takes into consideration the modern patient and the island community as a whole, giving a much more personal and human context to this complex illness.

The combination of my still and moving images of the island intermixed with photographs and text created by recent and current inhabitants of the settlement interweaves my perspective as a white granddaughter of settlers with those who live and work at Kalaupapa. The incorporation of text from recently translated chants, songs, poems and death laments from former Hawaiian patients into English, challenges the inaccurate myth of the separation of the first patients from their families while analyzing how these patients wrote about themselves in 20th century Hawai’i. It reminds us not only of the emotional and physical costs of the illness, but also of the strong culture and community surrounding these individuals. Constructing a more nuanced and inclusive photographic lens, this collaborative work intends to serve as a correction to previous paternalistic or colonialist accounts.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, only half of the patients are currently living at Kalaupapa. Those who have already endured decades of isolation and separation are now experiencing disconnection and confinement on a level reminiscent of their quarantine conditions over fifty years ago. This work intends to preserve historical memories of past and current leprosy patients and to further the global understanding of this disease while providing a much needed new perspective on leprosy and the newly reconstructed history of the settlement.

In 2021, this ongoing project was given a solo exhibition at the Irene Carlson Gallery of Photography at the University of La Verne in La Verne, California. The work will culminate as a solo exhibition at the Molokai Public Library in Kaunakakai, on the island of Molokai, Hawai’i, in conjunction with the unveiling of the new addition to the library. This will coincide with a joint solo exhibition at the National Historic Park, Leper Colony and Museum in Kalaupapa, Hawai’i. I am working with both institutions to curate a series of public talks and panel discussions with academics at the settlement and the University of Hawai’i to educate and engage the local community on this newly restructured history of the colony.