While a picture is known to be worth a thousand words, for some it can also be worth a thousand memories. For her latest mixed media artwork project, Molokai born and raised Paula Mondoy Scott relied on personal experiences from her childhood and plenty of research to create nine original pieces. The works of art represent different aspects of Father Damien and Kalaupapa.

Scott grew up in Kalae, just a few miles from the peninsula, and while she didn’t visit until the required age of 16, she was connected to the history-rich settlement from birth. Her father, John Mondoy, would often go down to play music for the patients, and she had some aunties and uncles work at the settlement.

One New Year’s Eve, “I was dancing all night with the patients,” she said. She also met Richard Marks, who was “instrumental” in patient advocacy.

One of Scott’s pieces, called “33,” is about when Father Damien moved to work at Kalaupapa – at age 33 – and includes an image of the map of Kalaupapa in the 1870s.“All my trips down were with Richard, the king of story tellers,” Scott said.

All these memories came back when she was asked to participate in an art show in her current home, New Mexico. The show began within a month of Father Damien’s canonization in October 2009 – an event that inspired her to create the Father Damien series.

“It started with [Damien] coming to Hawaii,” Scott said. “I think people [today] are so reluctant to commit to anything, to find what’s passionate within. And at 21 years old, this kid from Belgium, who never set foot in Hawaii, wants to leave his family…to do this work.”

“I started connecting to him on that level – no one does work like that,” she said.

Scott’s pieces jump out at the observer, literally. Many are deeply textured and appear three-dimensional. Those who see them in person are encouraged to touch the art work. One piece, called ‘Healer,’ depicts the face of a Hansen’s disease patient, whose lifelike sores often repel people. But Scott says that’s the goal: she wants people to see the real side of this often forgotten disease.

“I want them to connect with the stigma that comes with [the disease],” she said.

Scott said her key points of inspiration were the children Saint Damien worked with; his advocacy – “even to the point of becoming unpopular with the diocese” – and his work as a healer.

Scott is well-researched in the life of Saint Damien, which led her to know a little about another famous Kalaupapa healer – Mother Marianne Cope. When visiting Hawaii last month for her father’s birthday, Scott was in Oahu for the dedication of a Mother Marianne statue.

“I’m getting a nudge from the universe to do a body of work on Mother Mary,” Scott said

Scott created a blog many years ago called Molokai Girl, to broaden her audience for her artwork. All her work, including the process of making her Father Damien series, is available at her blog.