Unknown Paradise

 

                                          Isaac Nahakū‘elua

 My journey has taken me from the volcanic soil of Hilo to the mountains of Afghanistan and deep into the study of the human mind. A Hilo High School graduate (Class of 1999), I joined the U.S. Army to serve as an Airborne Infantryman with the 82nd Airborne Division. Later, stationed at Schofield Barracks, I deployed to eastern Afghanistan for a year.
Surviving combat forged a new perspective on life. It forced me to confront the powerful, often illusory, ideas that shape our reality. To understand these experiences, I returned home and discovered the transformative power of education, earning a bachelor's degree in Psychology and a master's degree in Social Work.
Now, as I work toward a Ph.D. in social welfare, my artwork has become my primary tool for exploration. It's where the depth and complexity of my academic training and battlefield experiences converge, allowing me to deconstruct the complex ways we create and interact with ideas that shape our world.