What is that statue about at the Maui airport?

QUESTION

While waiting in the Kahului airport security check-in line to depart from Maui, I noticed a big statue of a man with the sun over his head. What is that supposed to be?

ANSWER

The bronze statue (shown in the photo below) is called "Maui Releasing the Sun" and it was created in 1992 by Maui-born artist Shige Yamada.

A Hawaiian legend says that the demi-god Maui lassoed the sun over Haleakala Volcano, in order to slow the progress of the sun across the sky, so that his mother's tapa-cloth would have a longer time to dry in the warm sun. So the person depicted in the statue is Maui, and in this pose he is releasing the sun back into the sky.

Statue Maui airport

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