The imagery alludes to some of the aspects of Ka’iulani’s life in Hawaii and the United Kingdom. The two figures could be seen as two aspects of the same person. The one on the left is wearing an ilima lei, which is made up of thousands of paper thin, bright orange flowers. On the right side, she is wearing a white pikake lei, made from heavenly fragrant jasmine blossoms. The word pikake is derived from ‘peacock’, and these birds were resident at her home, ‘Ainahau, located in the midst of what is now Waikiki, a major tourist area.
The abstracted architectural forms, rotated and floating on the upper left side of the painting are derived from photos of ‘Ainahau. The dark, vertical forms bordering the figure on the right side are based on the terraced house where she lived in Hove, England (which still stands). The yellow and pinkish structure on the upper right side of the image is based on the architecture of Iolani Palace, in Honolulu, which in the painting has been turned upside down.