Kamea Hadar Completes a Special Mural and Sacred Canoe Painting Project With POW! WOW! Hawaii and the Polynesian Voyaging Society

Kamea Hadar and POW! WOW! Hawaii honor master navigator Papa Mau Pialug.

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Hawaiian artist Kamea Hadar recently completed a three-part project with the folks at POW! WOW! Hawaii and the Polynesian Voyaging Society. Hadar painted the sacred Hokulea canoe, its sister canoe named the Hikianalia, and a mural in the Kakaako neighborhood of Honolulu with students from the POW! WOW! School of Art and 808 Urban. 

The mural depicts Master Navigator Papa Mau Piailug, the first navigator of the Hokulea and the man responsible for teaching lots of Hawaiians the "art of non-instrumental wayfinding." Of the mural, the artist says that "when looking for reference photos, I looked through photos of the maiden voyage and found an amazing photo of Papa Mau staring towards the horizon with an intense look. The photo immediately spoke to me but I still wanted to make sure that it truly captured who he was as a person."

Hadar, the students, and artists Keola Rapozo of Fitted Hawaii,Prime, and Estria also painted the hull of the Hikianalia and the underside of the hatch covers on Hokulea, each representing a location in the Pacific Ocean where the sacred canoe has sailed. The project is meant to bring attention to the upcoming Malama Honua: The Worldwide Voyage, in which the canoes will begin a three-year trip around the world.

Vincent Ricafort directed the video below about the project and Papa Mau:

RELATED: Street Artists From Around the World Unite for POW! WOW! Taiwan 2014 

 

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