Artwork commissioned by late Hawaii Department of Health Director Loretta Fuddy that depicts the promise of new love and life was recently installed in the lobby of the agency’s headquarters at 1250 Punchbowl St.

Fuddy died in December following a plane crash off Kalaupapa, Molokai.

Honolulu artist Kamea Namba Hadar completed the two pieces over the last two years at a cost of $14,500. One comprises an oil portrait of a young couple embracing their newborn that was done on five solid koa slabs. The other is a smaller triptych showing newlyweds touching foreheads and sharing ha, or breath.

The artwork, mounted in the lobby of Kinau Hale, where birth certificates and marriage licenses are issued, will be unveiled at a celebration Sept. 2. The lobby is under renovation and is closed to the public at this time.

Hadar, co-lead director of the Pow! Wow! Hawai’i urban art festival, is the artist behind the mural of the late Micronesian navigator Mau Piailug at the corner of Cooke and Auahi streets in Kakaako. Another of his murals, at the corner of Cooke and Pohukaina streets, is a portrait of a woman’s face. He completed that work in collaboration with the artist Rone.

Hadar said he dedicated the two newer pieces to Fuddy.

"She was an integral part of creating the project and worked with me on the imagery that was painted," he said.