Duty-Free Paradise | Dole House project focuses on the Dole House located in Jamaica Plain, MA.
Lani Asuncion, explores connections between Hawaii and Boston's past and current American histories in Duty-Free Paradise / Dole House. It examines how these narratives are being told and communicated by reframing them through digital media tools like video, augmented reality, installation, and public performances.
This project aims to decolonize current narratives of James D. Dole, credited and uplifted with establishing the pineapple industry in Hawai'i, and instead highlights how the Dole family played a key role in the overthrow of Queen Lili'uokalani of the Hawaiian monarchy in the coup of 1893. Sanford Ballard Dole (James Dole's cousin), appointed governor before Hawaii's formal annexation into the U.S as the 50th state in 1959, established a provincial government. Shortly after, James Dole was given land to farm pineapple plantations throughout the islands. Asuncion started this project in 2020, a few blocks from the childhood home of James Dole, designated as a historical landmark by The Bostonian Society. Near the former studio of Asuncion for four years, where they did the installation and public performances, the most recent at 10b project space with Forbes Graham (April 27-May 8, 2022) in response to these histories and their relation to Asuncion's ancestors and lived experiences.
Admission: $10; Museum members free*