Home » News » Art for Earth’s sake – Hawaiian’s giant wall mural in Long Beach, California

26 July, 2018

Art for Earth’s sake – Hawaiian’s giant wall mural in Long Beach, California

A spectacular art installation with an important message emerged in Long Beach California recently when Hawaiian Airlines collaborated with renowned Hawai‘i street artist Kamea Hadar during 2018 POW! WOW! Long Beach.

Standing approximately 25 feet wide by 60 feet tall, the large-scale mural is located on the Jean Machine building at the intersection of Fourth Street and The Promenade North. It was commissioned by Hawaiian Airlines as the airline furthered its commitment to supporting local artists.

The Long Beach mural, sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines, tells a story of sustainability and the importance of protecting natural resources. It is the first artwork to be unveiled in a series of upcoming commissioned pieces called “Mālama ‘Āina” (to care for the land).

The mural was created during POW! WOW! Long Beach, a week-long, city-wide event that takes place in the summer throughout the city. The Long Beach festival is part of the POW! WOW! Worldwide series of street art events, which since 2010 has brought art and culture to public spaces in Honolulu, Seoul, Washington DC, Taipei and Tokyo.

Hawaiian Airlines is the official airline sponsor of POW! WOW! Hawai‘i, the home state of the global art, culture and music organisation.

Long Beach is the latest Southern California city to enter Hawaiian’s route network.

“Visual storytelling is a powerful tool to share our culture and help engage communities globally around important topics such as sustainability, ” said Avi Mannis, senior vice president of marketing at Hawaiian Airlines.

“We are honored to build on our POW! WOW! partnership to provide artists an outlet where they can express their talents beyond Hawai‘i through larger-than-life murals,” he added.

The Long Beach mural sponsored by Hawaiian Airlines is the first artwork to be unveiled in a series of upcoming commissioned pieces called “Mālama ‘Āina” (to care for Mother Earth).

Artist Kamea Hadar drew inspiration from the flow of water and the role it plays in giving life.

The mural features two female dancers and celebrates Hawai‘i’s ahupua‘a – an ancient land division extending from mountains to the sea – with its use of mossy-green to ocean-blue gradients, native vines and tropical flora such as the yellow hibiscus, Hawai‘i’s state flower.

“When we started the discussions with Hawaiian Airlines to have sponsored murals at certain POW! WOW!s, we decided that the common thread (other than them being painted by a Hawai‘i artist) would be the themes of ‘Mālama’ and ‘Kōkua’,” Hadar said.

“The piece combines two figures that represent the balancing of ancient traditions and our contemporary urban society. They are both representations of the same person trying to find inner balance.

“One figure looks down and focuses on her hand and how it gently causes ripples through the dress and interacts and connects her to the background and thus water, while the other looks to the viewer with her hand over her mouth, calling for them to listen [to nature].”

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