Early next year, the city will launch a public art initiative “Wahi Pana: Storied Places,” showcasing Oahu locations and landmarks by illuminating their cultural and historical significance. It’s a welcome move, foregrounding Hawaii’s art and artists, while involving communities — the contemporary source of Oahu’s culture — in the process.
The grant-funded initiative will feature local artists and storytellers, highlighting 11 culturally significant sites across the island — among them Haleiwa Beach Park and Hanauma Bay — and will even include the city’s roving buses.
Selected buses will be wrapped with artist Cory Taum’s images portraying scenes from the epic tale of Hi‘iakakapoliopele, sent by her sister Pele on a fated quest.
“This project is about sharing knowledge and creating spaces for both our local people — our kamaaina — and our visitors, to deepen our historical and cultural awareness of different places,” Taum states.
Each of the site-specific installations, which will include sculpture, photography, painting, video, poetry and mele (music), is designed to be “immersive,” engaging viewers.
The initiative, funded by a $1 million competitive grant provided by the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Public Art Challenge, sets a standard of public-spiritedness and generosity that may inspire others, at a time when that inspiration is sorely needed.
Cultural organizations including Pu‘uhonua Society, Aupuni Space, Hawai‘i Contemporary and Bishop Museum are participating, along with Honolulu’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Office of Economic Revitalization, and the Oahu Visitors Bureau.
Taum’s rolling imagery will be installed in February. Other February debuts:
>> At Le‘ahi — Diamond Head — Hawaii Poet Laureate Brandy Nalani McDougall will highlight poetry and olelo (language) with an installation exploring Le‘ahi’s cultural significance and revealing kaona, or hidden meanings. McDougall’s installation is a collaboration with Hawai‘i Triennial 2025, a statewide exhibition of contemporary art taking place Feb. 15 through May 4.
>> At Fort DeRussy, Rocky Ka‘iouliokahikolo ‘Ehu Jensen will create a sculptural monument, “Na Lehua Helele‘i: The Scattered Blossoms” (1999) — honoring Maoli warriors and serving as a reminder of Hawaiian stories and ancestral presence in Waikiki.
>> Fort Street Mall and Chinatown will hold a mural and poetry installation by Carl F.K. Pao and Imaikalani Kalahele. Pao’s tiled floor murals visually translate Hawaii’s olelo through coded designs, while Kalahele’s poetry evokes Chinatown’s history.
Additional installations at seven landmarks will open in May and September, with public programs and unveiling ceremonies at each site. All include links to audio and video, with connected music, poetry and storytelling. The projects will be on display through 2028.
It is so welcome to have this return of public art — a gift to communities that strengthens bonds between those who share appreciation for art, and for the histories of place the works reveal. There’s synchronicity here with the Hawai‘i Triennial, and with the blossoming expansion of activities at and around the Downtown Art Center, housed in a city building, as well as the state’s Capitol Pools project, a major and very visible art installation garlanding the Capitol building.
An overarching purpose of Wahi Pana, as Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s office stated, is to emphasize “respect for place and the need to care for the land,” and to share that sentiment with visitors and locals alike. It’s an admirable vision, deserving of a positive public reaction.
Correction: Waimea Valley is not one of the culturally significant Oahu sites being featured in the Wahi Pana public art project, as was reported in an earlier version of this editorial.
