This month, MAC at the library brings to you, Brook Kapūkuniahi Parker. Brook Parker’s presentation, “Honoring Our Ancestors with Our Talents,” features the Lahui Ancestor Scroll Chart (pictured below) he recently completed. Parker has spent thousands of hours researching and creating original portrait paintings depicting Hawaii’s royal history. He combined his art work with genealogy done by his late uncles Wayne Davis and Francis Ching, and his late father David Parker to create this valuable labor of love.

As a child, Brook was greatly influenced in the arts by his father David, a gifted, self taught artist and painter, Hawaiian historian, genealogist and writer. As Brook grew older, his father’s interest became his own, and with no formal art school training, his father’s library of art books, Hawaiian history books & books of other interests became his other teachers.

Brook’s family roots run deep in the islands. He is a direct descendant of John Palmer Parker, founder of the Parker Ranch on the Big Island of Hawaii. John Parker’s wife, Rachael Keli’ikipikānekaolohaka ‘Ohiakū was a great-granddaughter of Kamehameha the Great and his wife Kanekapolei. He is the great-grandson of Robert Parker Waipa, a captain of the royal household guard under King David Kalakaua.

The majority of Brook’s art portrays the deep love and admiration he has for his ancestors. In MidWeek, Mufi Hanneman noted, “For Brook Parker, the legacy of his ancestors, the war battles and stories of the Hawaiian people are etched in his heart, making it easy for the local artist to preserve history through every brushstroke that he swipes on his canvases. The stories he shares through his portraits bring inspiration and a clearer understanding of what Hawaiians and their royalty lived through.” In addition to his paintings and drawings, Brook is a sought-after historian and lecturer and is also a skilled artisan of Hawaiian weaponry and crafts.

Joanie Pruet, also a descendent of Kanekapolei, will display her copy of Parker’s Lahui Ancestor Scroll Chart.

MAC at the Library is free and brought to you by the Molokai Arts Center and Molokai Public Library.