Aerosol artists and visual activists Estria and Prime have extended their series of productions grounded in Native Hawaiian culture with “New Beginnings Start With Forgiveness,” an ambitious mural on the Jaguar Dealership Building in Kakaako.

As part of Pow Wow 2012, Florida’s Trak6 and local painter Bam joined Prime and Estria to represent several Hawaiian gods and goddesses in a fantastic context of geography, ecology, weather, technology and lore. Together their styles marry contemporary aerosol realism with bold abstraction. The themes and graphical styles move from density to spaciousness, from earth to sky, as the mural is read from left to right.

The production begins with Trak6’s images of Hi‘iaka and Lono amid stylized breakers, the Hawaiian island chain and taro leaves. Next is Prime’s two renditions of Pele interacting with Kanaloa: one as the explosive meeting of volcano and ocean, the other as an elder and youth sharing breath.

Following them is Estria’s depiction of Kane as a night-and-day figure with his head ringed by radiant clouds and his hands planted firmly on the edges of a bowl of kava. He is joined by his daughter Poli‘ahu, who floats over the slopes of Mauna Kea.

Past them is Ku, presented in a rarely depicted aspect centered on nurturing, balanced by his wife, Hina, both painted by Bam.

Like the Queen Lili‘uokalani wall at Honolulu Community College, this mural is as much a teaching tool as it is a work of art.

Read as a kind of scroll, the power of these divine figures of traditional Hawaiian belief flows through the entire archipelago, consistently balancing ocean, land, cultivation, fire, rebirth and unity across male and female energies. Operating at a vast scale that suits their subjects, these artists have updated the gods’ visual presentation for a new generation.