Kalaʻi Miller: Aloha, I’m Kalaʻi Miller and welcome to Home is Here.

On this episode we explore the world of Hawaiʻi Walls.

Artist Jasper Wong started the mural festival in the Kakaʻako district of Honolulu in 2011 and for more than a decade his friends and peers breathed new life into a once forgotten neighborhood.

Jasper Wong: I grew up in Hawaiʻi and I left Hawaiʻi to go to art college in San Francisco.

That’s sort of like where I kind of like, found my people.

When I graduated from art college, like most art college grads, I didn’t know what to do.

So, I decided to move to Hong Kong.

I went there to like learn about art as a business and learn about manufacturing.

When I was there I also still wanted to show my art.

I still wanted to be involved in it, in the art scene, in galleries so I took my artwork around and got rejected at every gallery that I went to because they said I was the wrong type of Chinese.

So as a reaction to that I decided to start my own gallery.

The very first show in that gallery was the very first Pow!Wow!

exhibition.

(Singing: Oh now baby you got my eye now.

I cannot believe my life I’m, someone like you in life now) Jasper Wong: I wanted to showcase like local artists.

Not to showcase artists based on how well they can sell.

remove the financial side of it, you know, back to doing art for art's sake, and doing it for the love of it.

Bring artists together.

So we've, you know, flew in artists from, from London and Taiwan, from France, you know, just friends, just to come together and say paint together, and also to like share process, because oftentimes, I felt that the process leading up to the final artwork is sometimes more interesting than the final art itself.

You can see the artists, trials and tribulations, their struggles, their problem solving, they're figuring out, finding solutions, and I always felt that process is very beautiful in art.

And from there, you know, decided to bring it to Hawaiʻi, you know, bring it to my hometown.

(Singing: My eye now.

I cannot believe my life I’m…) Jasper: A big part of it was really also trying to bring art back to the people.

Oftentimes, the art scene or at least galleries and museums can feel or seem elitist, and the general population, and people in general don't go to them because either they're priced out, or they don't feel like they'd be accepted in those institutions.

And so if we take art, back to the streets, and turn neighborhoods into open air galleries, then we're giving art back, and it returns back to the people the art work becomes, the murals become fabrics of those communities, becomes a part of their lives.

When we first named it Pow!Wow!, it was inspired by comic books.

So it was like, pow!

It's sort of like the, the old Batman, Adam West shows where, like, you'll see the sound effect that can comics.

So then pow!

was like a punch in the face, right.

So that's how I saw the impact that art had on the viewer.

So that's pow!

And then wow!

was sort of the reaction to that.

But powwow together is a Native American ceremony to celebrate art, music culture, people.

And I was like, that's perfect, like, because that's what we want to do.

We want to celebrate art and music and culture, we want to celebrate people and we want to, we want to bring people together, like a powwow.

Like that was sort of the intent of the name initially.

And so we also sort of added the exclamation mark, so there was sort of more of a separation between Native American powwows.

But there was also a lot of people that felt like it was appropriation and felt like we were taking away from Native American powwows.

And so out of respect for them, we, we changed the name.

And that first year was hard.

It was hard raising enough money to, to do an arts project.

When trying to reach out to sponsors allow sponsors felt that our projects, and our events weren't good vehicles to promote their brand.

So no one wanted to fund it, no one wanted to support it, unfortunately.

And so I had like, you know, three options: one, to just cancel it, I can’t make it happen; two, maybe scale it down, or three, just just go for it.

So I kind of picked the ladder and I pulled out my credit card and paid for everything.

I bought all the flights bought all the paint.

I was lucky enough to like meet different people to help sort of cover some or like provide spaces for the artists.

And also like that's when also when I connected with Kamea Hadar, who I went to high school with, to provide a place for them to stay at because we didn't have a hotel sponsor.

So they stayed at his family's home in the North Shore.

And then Kamea became a big part of the festival over the years, becoming the co-lead director.

But, you know, we just pushed for it, and made it happen that first year.

And that first years was also we did like the first mural.

That was a part of that project.

And that's when everything kind of clicked.

And the following year, we did like around 12 murals just went around the neighborhood door to door asking, and people really were against it initially.

There was a lot of stigma associated to the type of art that we're doing or even like, public art, outdoor art.

They felt that we would be vandalizing and destroying their community.

But the exact opposite was true.

You know, it kind of did, it kind of brought the neighborhood together.

And it changed everything out there in Kakaʻako.

And in Kakaʻako you know there’s like hundreds and hundreds of murals out there now, over a pretty large footprint.

And Kakaʻako just shifted, you know, what happened was people tried to find the artwork, they were drawn to it.

Not just people in Hawaii, but people from all over the world will come.

And it created foot traffic, and the foot traffic and the art and the murals made it feel more vibrant.

And they made it feel more alive and also made them more safe.

Kalaʻi Miller: After playing a part in transforming the urban district of Kakaʻako Hawaiʻi Walls turned its focus to a neighborhood nearer to the event organizers’ hearts.

The Kalihi district in Honolulu is one of the most underserved communities on Oʻahu and the Palama Settlement is at its heart.

The community center has been a sanctuary for Kalihi residents for more than a hundreds years and is now the home of more than 75 mrals by renowned local and global artists.

Jasper Wong: And I said, well, like the fact that people don't care about Kalihi is the reason why we should be doing it there.

A big part of planning for this one was trying to integrate myself and be more part of the community and talk to people.

And so I started doing, you know, doing work at like Palama Settlement, teaching there.

And they're the ones that really sort of, like, triggered like, hey, let's they want to do one mural.

I said, Let's do like, way more than one.

Kevin Lyons: Hawaiʻi Walls was my first mural festival and it was in 2015 or ʻ16.

First time painting the monsters on a larger scale.

And I just love the fact that they took a chance on me, they invited me here having never done a mural before.

Jasper, Kamea, and Jeff, the three founders have become like friends and family to me.

I’ve actually come on my own dime, because it’s been such an influential, part of my life.

When I heard about this, I was really excited because I think there's so much to be done in urban centers, where actual street art could really benefit.

Jack Soren: Growing up in Hawaii, loving street art and graffiti, we're always looking at New York and big murals.

So once Pow!Wow!

started originally in Hawaiʻi, we would always go in high school and check out the mural festivals.

And now it's Hawaii Walls.

And we are able to now participate in these festivals.

And it means a lot for us to have a shot, you know, to showcase, our work on such a large scale for a public event to be able to be a part of it and to share our work with the community.

Jasper Wong: The mindset going into Kalihi, let's focus the murals on community centered spaces, because we know that they're not going to level Palama for like condos.

They're not going to level Farrington High School, or Kalihi Kai Elementary, or Kalihi Uka Elementary, right?

Or Bishop Museum, like these spaces are going to stay like that.

So we can use the artwork to sort of like uplift beautify these areas, knowing that it'd be for the people and for and for these community based places.

Ran Noveck: What's special about this particular Hawaiʻi Walls is that we're doing it for the areas that really need that kind of uplift.

And those neighborhoods that that are not so fortunate, and we're really coloring it up for them.

Michael Bennet: Art has always been put into these places like, you know, white spaces like, oh museums but like public art is the most beautiful type of art because there's no hierarchy.

Everybody's allowed to participate.

And to think that we take a place like Palama Settlement that’s kind of looked down upon and make it an art Mecca so people come down and witness the creativity, of a lot of these people that come from these communities, I think is super important.

Jasper Wong: I grew up in Kalihi.

My mom had a grocery store there when, I was a kid.

The grocery store got shut down because Costco opened up, but she pivoted and started a bakery.

And that bakery was right across from Farrington High School.

So a lot of my childhood was spent there, in the back of that store.

I used to go to Kung Fu tournaments in Palama Settlement.

I have a deeper connection to Kalihi than Kakaʻako.

Amy Wong: I feel like the most rewarding part is that it's really helping the Kalihi community... um...sorry.. so my family didn’t come from Kalihi but we were, we grew up very poor.

So we worked really hard to...to make ends meet.

A lot of my friends when I was younger is from Kalihi.

A lot of my time was spent with my friends and Mayor Wright’s just hanging out in the parking lot in a park.

Jasper Wong: We do have, like redline districts here.

They do exist, you see it when you drive like, like certain districts have more funding and support and others don't.

And, and Kalihi is one of them, but Kalihi has a stigma, unfortunately.

When I brought it over to people, like hey, I wanted to do it Kalihi, I really want to support Kalihi.

People asked me why.

They said it's dangerous, it’s shady, they won't accept you there, you do murals there, they're gonna destroy it, like, they don't want you there.

Just being there and talking to the people there that will say, hey, honestly, like, Kalihi is forgotten.

You know, it's definitely a place people don't care about.

And so I was like, we should just make the steps to care.

We made the mural festival happen.

And, you know, the exact opposite happened, they really came and embraced us.

There are so many stories throughout that whole period where artists are painting from almost daily, like people like offering them food.

You know, some people would offer them money.

They're like, hey, thank you so much for caring about us.

To this day when I when I go to visit Palama Settlement the kids brag about which murals they were a part of.

They feel ownership of it.

They feel pride.

Loverson: Yeah, I was here watching them.

And then I heard one of my friends calling me from the corner.

He's like, hey, come help me paint this.

Like, okay, so I went to him.

Then we started painting the railings and the staircase.

Then I got painted my shirt.

I went home.

My mom was like, what is on your shirt?

Like, oh, it's just paint from painting at like.

She’s like, what’d you paint?

Oh, I was painting at Palama.

When I walk past there I always look at ‘em like, that’s what I did.

Jasper Wong: Palama Settlement, you know, all these kids are from public housing, you know, it's a safe place in the sanctuary for them.

And some of these kids are there all day long.

Like they’re pretty much in school, go there, and also people don’t understand that, it’s also like, if places like Palama Settlement didn’t exist, these kids don’t get fed.

Like they get fed at school, and they get dinner at Palama Settlement.

And that might be all the meals that get for, for the day.

You know, so that they need places like this, they need places where they can feel safe, you know, and where there's like, there's like programs for them, or just a place where people care about them, where they're shown that they're loved.

Maybe by doing all this artwork and trying to like uplift it, people want to discover and learn about it, and see that hey, you know, there's people here that need support.

Kevin Lyons: I really do believe that street art in and of itself can bring a lot of joy to communities where it's gray.

It resurfaces some of the best parts of like humanity, I think, to have a bunch of artists here.

And the fact that they can see us paint it in front of them gives them such ownership over it.

Aaliyah Buinto: So when I first came here, it felt like plain.

And like, the walls were kind of ugly.

And then when it came when the paintings came it felt like, not, not plain anymore.

And it looked really nice to see color.

Yvonne Balora: It’s nicer now cuz we get to look around at these beautiful paintings.

Kevin Lyons: My work especially resonates so well with kids that I'm hoping that they're going to eat in front of here, they're going to play in front of here, they're going to learn in front of the year, and these guys are all going to kind of watch over them.

OG Slick: growing up, you know, looking for spots to do graffiti.

We're always looking for the most visible spots, the fame spots.

And this gym always been on my radar, you know.

Never got the pleasure of hitting it illegally.

So fast forward 30-somethin’ years later to hit it legal.

The feeling is just unreal.

You know, super blessed.

Chad Williams: I’m helping Slick paint this mural on this, the large wall in Palama Settlement.

So Palama means a lot to me.

I grew up kitty corner to here, right, right over there in the housing, impoverished housing, you know, low income, really rough neighborhood, tough kids, talented and tough kids and this was our outlet.

I played Pop Warner Football here.

We would come over here we would learn how to be coachable, which means you learn how to be teachable.

And to come back here and, and give back in any way is huge for me because it played such a big role in my life.

Kala’I Miller: The Hawaiʻi Walls festival only lasts about a week, but the stories shared, relationships made, and perhaps most importantly the art itself will endure.

The murals leave a lasting legacy on each city block they grace reminding viewers and participants the power art has to bring people together and uplift communities.

Jasper Wong: It’s day four.

Is it day 4?

So tired it’s like I don’t even know what day it is.

We're like, half halfway through, which is good and sad.

Because I know that it comes to the end, everyone leaves.

But then at least with this festival, we leave something behind: art then impacts these communities, impacts these people.

And that's what really matters at the end, not the turnout, but what it contributes to the youth and the future.

Max Sansing: Once I do this man, it’s, I don't own this anymore.

Like, this, this will be here, unless someone paints over it, you know this belongs to the people in the neighborhood in the community.

For some is just a mural, to me, I know the impact they had on me when I was a shorty just seeing like, someone that looked like me, big and giant on a wall and thinking like, you know, they’re like gods and stuff, and to kind of see that.

I want to give that to somebody else.

I’m that anonymous person that I grew up seeing murals in my neighborhood and I didn’t know who did ‘em but I just knew it looked cool.

So to be that for somebody else is always awesome.

Jasper Wong: It’s like these sort of like small things, these small moments were like, really, like, connect with these communities and find ways to like, help them, or even try to even change perception.

Makana: It’s my signature book.

From I believe, 2015 or 2016.

From the very first page, I have tons of art in signatures from bunch of tons of artists from this Pow!Wow!

or um, Hawaiʻi walls event.

Matthew Tapia: Ho, right on brah, You still have that?

Mean.

Wow, when is this from?

What year is this?

Jeff: Thatʻs probably like 18 or 19 Makana: ’18 or ’19, I think.

Matthew Tapia: Brah, right on, whereʻs yours?

I like see your drawings.

Jeff: Just getting exposed to some local art here, we've been following Pow!Wow!, well now Worldwide Walls for the past eight, nine years.

As a parent, I see graffiti more as an art.

I think it's, um, just encouraging.

I want to encourage my son to be creative, be able to do things to express himself.

Some people look at it as being destructive.

But if you look at all the artists here, they make a living out of it.

They have beautiful art and it's to me it's just an expression, just art in a simple way that doesn't have to be in a museum or framed or anything like that.

Jasper Wong: Pow!Wow!

over the years has always been a passion project.

And we've never been paid to do it.

And the artists have all done it pro bono and volunteered.

It's really a festival, a project, an organization that's run purely by volunteers and purely by love, and purely in the belief that art and public art can have an impact, have a positive impact on communities and people.

And so I always tell people, like you know, we're not we didn't become rich doing this at all, you know, if anything, we like lost money.

But, you know, we're like, rich and like, family and friends.

You know, like we can travel almost anywhere in the world and like know, an artist and know someone that will sort of we can connect with and, and hang out with and call family.

Alex Mauss: I’m a volunteer.

So I'm here to help and be inspired and all the awesome artists.

It’s really cool and meeting people from all over also.

It also feels like people are so supportive of each other here everyone's so proud of what you know awesome pieces everyone's made.

It feels like a lot of the artists are just happy to talk story and share their experiences for sure.

Aaron De La Cruz: I met this guy named Elmer, born and raised out here.

Went to elementary school across the street.

And literally pulled up and was like dude he's like when I saw the corner I got like, goosebumps.

Like so he was so excited.

He invited me over to his house he’s like bring 20 people if you want, have a barbecue, and stuff like that, you know?

That was like that was the highlight but you know like I said just engaging with the public and, and that's that's why I think a lot of us participate in this event.

La Morena: Ah, I’m painitng him.

Say hi.

La Morena: Oh my goodness!

Thank you!

You’ve been at it.

La Morena: I know.

I’m so tired.

Hi!

Say hi, come.

La Morena: You know how many people love the mural of you?

He looks so tan.

Look at… Amy Wong: Everyone’s, has a story of why they want to be here, to paint, or what they do is meaningful to them.

Aaron “Woes” Martin: Just finished my piece here for Hawaiʻi Walls and it was dope and an honor to rock here cuz I went to elementary school here from kindergarten to fifth grade.

So shout out to Jasper, cuz he got me the wall and shout out to all the kids at Kalihi Kai, and the principal, Principal Mark, all the staff.

Cory Kamehanaokala Taum: When I'm painting I just become, become one with that wall that week you know so whatever colors end up on the wall they end up on me and the further the week goes by the more I look like the mural.

I chose this plant the breadfruit because it's something we share as Pacific peoples.

It's a staple crop, something that sustains us and within Kalihi there's many stories about Papa our Earth mother and one form of Earth Mother is known as Kāmehaʻikana which is earth mother in the form of the breadfruit so I thought this is something you know that Pacific people and just people you know living in Hawaiʻi could relate to this concept you know this we got to return to these, these foods that have fed us for 1000s of years, yeah.

GoopMassta: I’m GoopMassta!

That’s G O O P: Getting Other to Operate Positive.

Yup, that’s me.

I’m over here in Hawai’I for the first time (Waaah).

There I am.

Here I am.

I’m having such a great time.

Thanks for everybody, and uh, putting me in awesome place.

I’m tired from jumping around.

Matt Ortiz: Working with my partner with my wife, Roxy, we're working together as a husband and wife team for like 10 years on murals.

And we both have like different strengths.

And we complement each other on those strengths.

So it's a good team effort.

And we've been doing it for so long, we've sort of developed their own little language.

Roxy Ortiz: When we think about our work, were keeping in mind the intersection between sustainability and play.

So how can we think of this kind of sustainable, eco-friendly, futuristic world, but we don't want it to be boring, or hit people over the head with, you know, doomsday scenarios or anything like that, like, we want the future to be fun, right?

Marko Livingston: This is my first inspiration for the wall.

This is my new inspiration for life.

Mom just got to see herself for the first time.

This is a mural that I put her portrait on.

Never did a portrait, so this is a dedicated type of piece for mom.

Jasper Wong: The relationships we have with like, the communities that we've done work in, and the people we've met along the way, and the experiences that we've had, you know, I feel very lucky in that regard that I was able to sort of be a part of all of that in some way.

We do this work in 25 cities around the world.

So, you know, I’ve met a lot of people over time, and I've had a lot of amazing experiences, because, because we just all believed in the power of art, and we all came together.

And we're all just like these like-minded passionate individuals, and we just wanted to go on and make it happen.

Amy Wong: The most rewarding part of working with worldwide was, is that the intention is just so pure.

Like we are just trying to make the world a better place.

We don't get a lot of money.

We raise it per year.

And when we raise it, we max it out.

there's about 70 Plus murals.

It doesn't have to be that big.

But Jasper's heart is just as big as the festival.

Jasper Wong: If we're able to sort of provide these opportunities, provide these experiences, like the ones that the kids were experiencing whilst at Palama Settlement and at Farrington then, then that makes it worth it.

You know, those maybe one day I'll meet one of these kids and they'll say, Hey, I'm a filmmaker now because I did that with you guys.

Or I'm a painter now because I did that with you guys.

You know, or I met this artist.

Or like that I have pride in the community because you guys painted it.

Or that I was happier, or I had a bad day and I saw the mural and I didn't have a bad day.

And those are the little moments that I think make it worth it at the end.

Kalaʻi Miller: Mahalo for joining us.

Please visit pbshawaii.org or the PBS Hawaiʻi YouTUbe page for past stories and some exclusive digital content.

For Home is Here, I’m Kalaʻi Miller, a hui hou.

Jasper Wong: I can tell which murals are popular based on how many footprints, or how many shoe prints that are on the wall.

Because everyone likes taking pictures where they lean on it and put one foot on the wall.