Where My Spirit Guides Us

In this series of photographs, Michael Philip Manheim furthers his journey into the human heart and spirit. For years, he has invited brave souls to be photographed as they set into movement a release of their inner beings. His multi-exposure images reveal sophisticated portraits of a shadow self, inter-preting the complexity of each Individual.

Now this approach has been applied to Where My Spirit Guides Us. The project celebrates the practice of ancient hula. Manheim has been photographing as Kumu Hula Ehulani Stephany guides her hula halau (hula school) into channeling the spirits of their ancestors. The resulting photographs reveal stunning transformations. Manheim says, "I have never worked with a participant who equaled Kumu's transformative powers. For the viewer, it is hard at times to believe that it is truly the same woman from picture to picture."

Beyond sharing this powerful experience with a wider audience, the project aims to spotlight Kumu and her halau mission. She avidly works to educate, preserve and promote the ancient art of hula, which she sees as central to the preservation of traditional Hawaiian civilization. Denigrated by colonizing invasions, western-imported disease and modern-day commercialization, these rituals and ritual spaces are in dire need of just such a champion.

Her work is not aimed at some greater glory. It is a labor of love. As Kumu writes of their efforts to restore ancient hula as well as Hawaiian heiau (temples): "We're not looking to receive any financial payment for this work, for it comes from deep within the heart and soul of me and all my haumana (students) and other volunteers." "