KAHULUI
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Launching in November 2025, Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center (QKC) will host the Hui Mo‘olelo: Kahului Exhibition, inviting visitors into the rich story-world of Kahului. Featuring nine panels of hand-painted portraits by artist Christina Wine, the exhibition brings to life Hui Mo‘olelo participants who shared their memories, perspectives, and sense of place through recorded talk-story. Each portrait—representing local voices from kūpuna and educators to cultural practitioners and environmental stewards—is paired with a QR code linking to the full recording, along with a distilled story summary prepared by the Maui Public Art Corps team. This collaborative exhibition marks the newest chapter of the Hui Mo‘olelo program, created through partnership with Queen Ka‘ahumanu Center, Maui Public Art Corps, local schools, cultural organizations, and county agencies. By offering direct access to lived memory, the project strengthens intergenerational connection, island identity, and art-driven community engagement. Above all, it is a celebration of Kahului’s enduring sense of place. |
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In June 2025, we produced three large-scale murals at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College through our collaborative Hui Moʻolelo program. Each mural is grounded in stories collected from our community — stories that speak of ʻike kūpuna, kuleana, and modern queer identity.
The artists--Solomon Enos, SEVEN (Eric Finley), and Jay Gilleard (Cbloxx), were selected through a competitive spring Request for Proposals reviewed by a community panel. Each chose a mo‘olelo (story) from the Hui Mo‘olelo archive to guide their creative process, working closely with the storytellers and broader community to co-design the murals. The artworks were unveiled in June 2025. |
Maui Utility Box Art Project
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The Maui Utility Box Art Project is a pilot public art initiative presented in partnership with the Department of Parks and Recreation, County of Maui and Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/ Maui Historical Society.
Designed to uplift early-career Maui-based creatives and enrich our shared environment, this program transforms everyday infrastructure into vibrant, place-based works of art—each one grounded in authentic local storytelling. Artworks in this series are each inspired by a recording from Hui Mo‘olelo, a collaborative program which cultivates stories celebrating Maui history, culture and sense of place and engages community members to co-design art that is directly rooted in these stories. In April 2025, Maui artists Sarah DeYoung, Christopher Carraway and Jillian Ikehara installed works inspired by the stories of Reverend Gensho Hara of the Lāhainā Jodo Mission & his daughter Yayoi Hara; Sissy Lake-Farm & Lopaka White; and Carol Ball & Erin Wade. Find them at Keōpūolani Regional Park near the first parking lot inside the Kanaloa Avenue entrance. |
A Mural for Aunty Nanifay
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Located at 25 Kahului Beach Road, home of Ceramic Tile Plus & Exclusively Yours Design, this mural is artist Oscar Lett's interpretation of a story shared by Women Helping Women lifetime achievement awardee Nanifay Paglinawan and Pualani Enos of the UH Mānoa Matsunaga Institute for Peace
Rooted in ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Pipili no ka pīlali i ke kumu kukui (The pīlali gun sticks to the kukui tree: Said of one who remains close to a loved one all the time, as a child may cling to the grandparent they love), the artwork resulted from our Hui Mo‘olelo program, which Pualani completed under the guidance of Leilehua Yuen in 2022. Her recorded story with Aunty Nanifay recounts harsh persecution and punishment endured for speaking ‘Ōlelo Hawai’i, reflecting a stark contrast to today’s celebration of Hawaiian culture, a mere 50 years later. When asked what it means to have her story transformed into a work of public art, Pualani responded “It makes me as a Hawaiian, as a tiny blip on our 4,000 year history of being and knowing, feel seen rather than invisible. Hawai’i treasures, our value, displayed as invincible for all to see.” The mural was supported by the Maui Public Art Youth Task Force and celebrated during a public blessing and unveiling at the Kahului site led by Uncle Bill Garcia on April 6, 2024. |
Pop-Up Performance @ The Great Lawn
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On Nov 5, 2023, a recorded interview between Hui Mo‘olelo participant Lopaka White and water-woman Aunty Sally Ann Delos Reyes of Lahaina was presented as a work of public art performed on the Great Lawn of the University of Hawaiʻi-Maui College Campus in Kahului.
Bringing the audio recording to life, which includes stories of the "deep, deep blue," using a rope to navigate to the surface after a deep sea dive, fishing with Aunty Sally Ann's father in Lahaina, crossing the ʻAuʻau channel and more, Maui's Adaptations Dance Theater (ADT) and Hāna-grown musician Stephen Henderson collaboratively performed live work inspired and composed by the talk-story. Following workshops with the Kahului community, ADT and Henderson presented this one-time-only work for a live audience as an expression of public art connecting people, place and story through a participatory process. |
Fitness Courts @ Maui County Parks
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In fall 2023, mural designs were created for two new Fitness Courts at Keōpūolani Regional Park and Kahului Community Center Park (see map) by artists Courtney Holland and James Dinh. For each of the two structures, artists collected community feedback to inspire the compositions of site-specific public artworks, which were printed by our project partners and installed as 32-foot vinyl wraps in July 2025. Each project is connected to ‘ōlelo from Mary Kawena Pukui’s ‘Ōlelo No‘eau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings, in partnership with Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House / Maui Historical Society. Click the project page links below to learn more about each site's mural.
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Animated Stories
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In September 2022, two Kahului-rooted audio recording excerpts were chosen from our Hui Mo‘olelo archive by artist Richard O'Connor and team to interpret as distinct works of public art. Upon selection by our community jury, Richard began a period of project development to infuse his proposal in a Kahului sense of place. The stories were unveiled as short film animations before a live audience on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at ʻĪao Theater.
This work was inspired by our previous work with Leilehua Yuen, StoryCorps DIY and Ball State University. |
A Mural for Aunty Kekoa
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Located at Queen Kaʻahumanu Center in Kahului, this mural is artist Fathima Mohiuddin's interpretation of a recorded talk-story between Aunty Kekoa Enomoto of ʻAhahui Kaʻahumanu and Queen Kaʻahumanu Center’s Kauwela Bisquera. Inspired by ʻŌlelo Noʻeau: I ka noho pu ana a ‘ike i ke aloha, (it is only when one has lived with another that one knows the meaning of love), the artwork is meant to represent the "warrior women” portrayed in the recording (available on the project page). The design was supported through nine community consultations, two hands-on workshops at Imua Immersion Preschool's Kahului campus, and celebrated during a December 2022 public blessing and unveiling led by Uncle Bill Garcia.
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