Leaving Mānā
Medium: Print
Leaving Mānā is an intergenerational memoirthat explores migration, identity, and memorythrough my grandmother’s journey from the sugarplantations of Kauai to northern Virginia. Rootedin Japanese, Hawaiian, and American influences,the work draws on family stories, recipes, sewing,and heirlooms to examine how cultural identity ispreserved and reshaped across generations.As dementia alters her present memories,this project becomes an act of preservation.Through personal research and documentation,it considers how memory endures in everydaypractices such as food, fabric, and ritual, and askswhat remains when memory fades while invitingviewers to reflect on their own inheritance andwhat they choose to carry forward.
