Portfolio > Māla, Atelier & Friends

In 2024, Makoto Study stepped away from his job after sustaining a shoulder injury. What might have seemed like a setback instead became an opening: time to slow down, to breathe, and to reconnect. In those months, he turned his attention to mālama ʻāina—caring for the land—a practice that humbled him daily. Digging into the soil, tending plants, and moving at the pace of the natural world offered lessons in patience, resilience, and reciprocity, reminding him (us) that healing is as much about spirit and place as it is about the body.