Part 5 will be available soon.
Part 5 will be available soon.
Of Volcanoes and Men
6 Parts
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Part 5 will be available soon.
Hawaii's volcano repentants: 'I see it as a metaphor for the misuse of our planet's resources'
Series'Of Volcanoes and Men' (3/6). In Hawaii, there is a local belief that the goddess Pele brings misfortune to careless visitors who dare to take a piece of volcanic earth with them. To ward off this 'curse,' many return their stolen souvenirs along with a note of apology. Photographer Ryan Thompson has compiled these testimonies of repentance.
Deities can be merciless with us poor humans. Especially when, on vacation, in the middle of an excursion, we slyly pocket a pebble, a handful of sand, a seashell or a fossil, thoughtlessly, just for the pleasure of bringing it home. Many who gave in to that vanity in Hawaii came to regret it. Pele, the goddess of the volcanoes of the United States' islands in the Pacific, is said to cast spells on them, irritated by the countless thefts of lava, rock and ash samples she considers herself the target of.
Revered for her power to create and destroy, this young woman with long hair triggers eruptions and earthquakes with a magic wand. If she decides to punish humans, her victims soon apologize for their misdeeds, sending back what they took by mail, accompanied by handwritten notes of repentance. These letters mention misfortunes, some more painful than others, that allegedly struck soon after the theft: a car breaking down, the loss of a job, a pet disappearing, illness, the sudden death of family members and so on.
It is these very real writings that Ryan Thompson, 44, wanted to bring to the public. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, where he teaches art and design at Trinity Christian College, the photographer studied with both humor and seriousness the hundreds of notes he discovered between 2019 and 2024, carefully archived by the Haleakalā National Park, on the island of Maui, and the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, on the island of Hawaii.
Thompson, who delves into the topic with a religious view, commented on the weight of those paper scraps and what they say about nature's connection with humanity
Oldest letters date back to 1904
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