HONOLULU — Hawaii Walls 2024 — formerly known as POW! WOW! Hawaii — celebrates its 12th annual festival as local artists and artists from around the world gather in the Kalihi and Palama neighborhoods to do what they do best while connecting with communities, September 16 through 22.
Artists including Ella Wong, Lauren YS, Dina Saadi, Kris Goto, Punky Aloha, Allison Bamcat, Ninja Sketch, Giorgiko, Satr, Evah Fan, Hera of Herakut, Hyun Din and others will create over 40 new elaborate and dynamic murals at three public schools including Farrington High School, Kalihi Kai Elementary and Puuhale Elementary.
“The Kalihi neighborhood holds a special place in my heart having spent a significant amount of time there growing up and with my mom’s grocery store and bakery across from Farrington High School,” said World Wide Walls Founder Jasper Wong in a release. “It is my hope that the impact of the festival will transcend the art that’s created there and instill a sense of pride in our community.”
Events open to the public will take place throughout the week as well:
- Sept. 18, 6 to 9 p.m. - Hawaii Walls Invitational 2024 Group Show curated by Thinkspace Projects with music by DJ Chicken Jerky. The exhibition will be on view through Oct. 2. Gangway Gallery, 547 Halekauwila Street.
- Sept. 19, 6:30 to 8 p.m. - Talk story with Lauren YS and Hera moderated by Wong at the Green Lady Room, White Sands Hotel, 431 Nohonani Street.
- Sept. 20, 8:30 to 10 a.m. - Creative Mornings with Ninja Sketch at SALT at Our Kakaako, 691 Auahi Street.
- Sept. 20, 6 to 8 p.m. - “Good Rolls, Good Times” Kekoa Collective and Hawaii Walls VIP Party at the Green Lady Room, White Sands Hotel.
- Sept. 21, 5 to 8 p.m. - Hawaii Walls 2024 Finale Pool Party at White Sands Hotel.
- Sept. 22, 1 to 5 p.m. - School of Photography Exhibition at Kaiao Space, 1018 Smith Street.The Hawaii Walls Invitational 2024 Group Show will be open to the public Sept. 18-Oct. 2 at Gangway Gallery. (Photo by Brandon Shigeta, 2023)
Wong founded World Wide Walls in 2009 in Hong Kong. POW! WOW! Hawaii was born in 2010.
“Hawaii Walls was POW! WOW! Hawaii for the past decade. And we recently changed our name to Hawaii Walls,” said Wong in a “Hawaii Walls 2023” video. “After doing murals in Kakaako for over a decade, we decided to move it to Kalihi and paint some murals here in the community, which in the Kalihi Palama area is vastly underserved with a lot of low income and public housing. And we felt that the work we do in Kakaako could be done here and could really benefit and uplift this community.”
Wong said when initially discussing the murals, the talk was about doing just one. Instead, he wanted to do more, to paint as many murals as possible. So last year artists painted over 30 murals at Palama Settlement with more at Kalihi Kai Elementary, Farrington High School, Kalihi Uka Elementary, Bishop Museum, and also around Kapalama Kai and Dillingham Plaza.
“So the goal was to really kind of give back to Kalihi and give back to a place that has been a home to me and that’s also very close to my heart since I was a kid growing up in Hawaii,” Wong said.
Visit the Hawaii Walls 2024 website for more information on the weeklong event.
Sarah Yamanaka covers news and events for Spectrum News Hawaii. She can be reached at sarah.yamanaka@charter.com.