Kalaupapa examines the history of misunderstanding and ostracism surrounding those afflicted with Hansen’s disease (leprosy) who were banished to the Kalaupapa peninsula on the north shore of Molokai, Hawaii from 1866-1969 (decades after treatment was available). Comprised of still, moving and archival images, and created during the final years of the last remaining patients, this project investigates the transition of the settlement from prison to hospital to National Historic Park and Museum. In the collision of the lush tropical landscapes—at once spectacular and mundane—with its problematic history, viewers encounter a neglected part of the American story.
