Moving to Hawaii isn’t just a novelty for me. Though not of Hawaiian ancestry, I have a deep connection to the land, absolute respect for the culture, and do my best to educate myself and advocate for the aina (land) and people. Several friends here have requested that I dig deeper into my roots, my own history, to understand where this connection comes from. While I’m not certain I’ll ever discover all that I’m looking for, I credit my grandmother, Ina, for allowing me to inherit what gifts she did have. This post was written about her in 2017; on this anniversary of her passing, I’d like to reintroduce her to you.
Sitting on 80 acres of land previously owned by American Indian tribes, around the large wood table built by my great-great relatives (which is in my home today), my childhood Saturday nights often took place in my grandmothers 60 year old home, filled with adults playing Eucre and kids watching Hee-Haw. In the summer time, we would be left to play unsupervised in the fields searching for arrowheads or the creek where we would attempt fishing with string and safety pins; in the winter I have a distinct memory of us discovering that when we turned on the ceiling vent in the bathroom, snow would start blowing down on us. We were an extended family of great laughter and little wealth.
As a young married couple, my parents had us move quite a bit in effort (and success) of building and providing a good life for us but in the center of it all stood the stability of my grandmother’s home. From it came stories of my father as a baby climbing out to the barn and up the rafters; my aunt being Homecoming queen; marriages starting and ending; babies being born. And in the middle of it all, my grandmother’s high school senior portrait would hang, smiling down on all of us.
Oahu Photographer and Doula holds a self portrait of her grandmother, who she credits her connection to the Hawaiian land. Photograph by Teresa Robertson of Robertson & co. in Hawaii.
I loved to study this portrait of a young woman that, at the time, had such a full life waiting for her. As a young girl, it intrigued me to see how different she looked back then – yet have the same kindness & determination in her eyes. To think, when she had the portrait taken, none of us were even born yet! To have this reminder of my grandmother at a time when we didn’t know her, to see the same beautiful smile she would give us when we came to her home, was almost a sweet declaration to me, saying, “So much came before you, to guide you and shape you. I was a young girl like you, too”. This simple, hand painted photograph let my mind wonder so often as to how much more we were connected to one anther, despite the years.
My grandmother’s portrait now sits besides me as I work. I still think about what she was like at my age, if I received any of her personality traits, and if I will pass them to my own children. I love the opportunity to share small snippets of stories with people who ask, “Who is that a portrait of?” and smile, knowing that she would be proud to know the woman I am today, the women I am raising, and would more than likely shrug off the suggestion that she had anything to do with it – let alone her high school senior portrait be a token of security, roots, and inspiration to generations ahead.
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Teresa lives on the island of Oahu in Hawaii and works as a Family Photographer, Birth Photographer, and Doula. In addition to client work, Her award winning Fine Art series ‘Mele Ma’i: Procreation Chants’ can be found here and is a volunteer Bereavement Photographer with Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep
