It’s one of the largest aerosol paint murals in Hawaii and one that carries a powerful message that’s being shared across the globe.
"Up periscope."
For the past three weeks mural artists Estria Miyashiro and John Hina have weathered the elements and each other in order to share an important message.
"Flow mauka to makai, that’s powerful because you would think that saving water in buckets or containers would be the way to go but really returning the water to the streams is the way to go because it takes care of the land and the ocean," said Miyashiro, an Iolani graduate who now calls California home. He and Hina have teamed with Hawaii’s best artists to create a mural that’s 200 feet long and 25-feet high on a building owned by JBL Hawaii.
"It just totally transforms the space and then when you transform the space you transform the lives around it," said Miyashiro of the property on Kokea Street which sits near the Honolulu Community College campus. It’s all part of a project called Water Writes, a series of 10 murals in 10 cities dedicated to water and the life it provides. "We hope to draw more attention everywhere we go with this project."
It started in Los Angeles then moved to Oakland before coming here. Next week they’ll start projects in Palestine and the Philippines. Followed by El Salvador, Haiti, Columbia, Arizona and California once again.
But this effort was different.
"It’s like painting your own mom, you don’t want to get it wrong," said Estria who has been spray painting for more than 26 years and is recognized around the world as a graffiti art living legend.
The artists were home and the center-piece was Hawaii’s last reigning monarch Queen Liliuokalani.
"Especially our queen, there’s no compromising our queen," said Hina, the founder of 808 Urban; a collective of artists, volunteers and community organizers committed to working in low-income neighborhoods in Honolulu. "I tell you what, I’ve never cried so much in one week."
"Yeah we were driving by and we saw this thing and we said God we’ve got to come around," said Bill Souza who was driving by the property with his family when they spotted the massive mural.
"It’s very impressive and very beautiful and I think an easy message everybody can get," said Lani Souza.
In the midst of their painting they point to a butterfly that visits them daily.The queen loved butterflies, even turning one of her broaches into a hair piece.That hair piece is part of their mural
"She’s looking over us, it’s no coincidence," said Miyashiro.
"At the end of the day we hope that we make our kupuna proud of what we doing," said Hina. "Give us their approval of good job."
The project will officially be unveiled on July 7th from 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. The mural is located at 905 Kokea Street near the Honolulu Community College. The public is invited.
For more information about the Honolulu Water Writes Project contact nancypilo@estria.org. For more information on 808 Urban got to http://808urban.org.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
