Gussie R Bento creates elaborate quilts that are known in Hawai‘i as kapa kuiki. Thousands of fine, hidden stitches are needed to appliqué designs onto pieces of cloth, and these layers are then stitched together to form quilts. In Bento’s kapa kuiki, the artist’s tiny stitches repeat the shape of a central design in closely radiating patterns. Ideas of Hawaiian sovereignty and the continuity of culture inform her practice.

Through their quilts, many kapa kuiki artists encourage awareness of the history of the Hawaiian royal family and the circumstances of their overthrow in the late nineteenth century. The reigning monarch Queen Liliʻuokalani spent her days fighting for the rights of her people and sewing kapa kuiki with her ladies-in-waiting, while she was held illegally in house detention in Iolani Palace, in downtown Honolulu, by representatives of the incoming government. Many women responded to their Queen’s forced abdication in 1895, and the lowering of the Hawaiian flag, by creating kapa kuiki with flag motifs or other royal insignia. Contemporary examples of these textiles continue to commemorate significant events relating to the monarchy.

Bento uses symbols of crowns and the kahili (feather standards indicating the presence of chiefs) in her quilt to venerate the Hawaiian monarchy, including in the ornate border which references the gates of King Kamehameha IV’s residence. During his short reign (1855–63), Kamehameha attempted to counteract the economic and political influence of the United States on Hawai‘i. Bento is both a graduate of and a teacher at the Kamehameha School for Girls, which was established to ensure the education of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi (Native Hawaiian) girls.

Gussie R Bento’s quilts continue the work of her monarch.