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WONG: Yeah; there's definitely a lot of convincing.
HADAR: I think it's Hawaii in general, you know. They're very supportive.
Oh, the supportive part?
HADAR: Yeah; you know. I mean, there's that conservative kind of aspect to Hawaii, but
I think for the most part people are really supportive.
When you drive through Kakaako in Honolulu, you can almost see the change happening before
your eyes. Quaint mom & pop stores are being priced out of the area, huge condos are in
the process of being built or planned. But there's also a visual liveliness; pop-up stores
and restaurants are attracting an energetic night crowd and a thriving arts community
has staked out Kakaako as a blank canvas where they can express themselves. Two of these
artists are Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar, next on Long Story Short.
Long Story Short with Leslie Wilcox is Hawaii's first weekly television program produced and
broadcast in high definition.
Aloha mai kakou. I'm Leslie Wilcox. Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar are two up and coming
Hawaii artists who have transformed the landscape of Honolulu through community art. As organizers
of Pow Wow Hawaii, a nonprofit annual artist collective and street art festival, Jasper
Wong and Kamea Hadar have been bringing together local and international artists to create
large collaborative murals which have added color and culture to the Kakaako district.
Both graduated from Kalani High School in Honolulu, and from an early age, they both
found themselves gravitating toward the arts.
WONG: I was raised by a single mother who raised three kids. There's three of us; I'm
the oldest, and my dad left when I was about twelve.
Have you seen him since?
WONG: I have here and there, but I haven't seen him for years for a while. Yeah. So,
I don't really know what he does. But yeah, just my mom. And then, my mom owned a bunch
of bakeries. Actually, in the beginning, she owned like a butcher shop in Kalihi next to
the KFC by Farrington. And then later on, she had like different bakeries in Chinatown
on Hotel Street, and in Market City and stuff like that.
Did you end up working in those businesses?
WONG: Yeah, I grew up like, packing bread and cleaning up, and going on the register
and selling baked goods. And after a while, you just hate pastries so much.
[CHUCKLE] So, back when you were the butcher's son, did you know you wanted to be an artist?
Did you tell people, I want to be an artist?
WONG: Yeah. I had to spend so much time there growing up, like at the shop. And I just would
just draw all day long. It was always something that I did growing up. Like, in my composition
books, there would always be just drawings of like, comic book characters, or on the
side of the page, I would do like a flipbook cartoon of like, Dragon Boy characters fighting
each other and stuff. It was just always something that I wanted to do. And my mom was always
very supportive. Like, she wasn't like that typical Asian mom who was like, I had to be
a doctor or an accountant or a lawyer, or something. It was like, I was into art, and
she found ways to sort of like help me. Like, you know, she would like buy me books, or
she would try to enroll me in classes.
Oh, that's wonderful.
WONG: Or something like that. Yeah.
Kamea, were you always drawing and painting at a young age, too?
HADAR: Yeah; definitely. I mean, ever since I can remember.
I think that's where you have something in common, too. Because I think you both credit
parental figures with hard work, and your work ethic, and your achievement.
WONG: Yeah.
Talk about that; what are your parents like?
HADAR: My parents are definitely dreamers. Definitely. They're the ones who house all
the Pow Wow artists every year up at their estate. It's called Utopium Estate in Pupukea
Heights. And you know, that's a similar size project to Pow Wow. I mean, it was this crazy
dream to have a property and a big house that could house artists and creative types, and
have retreats and foster creativity. And it was this, you know, crazy, crazy idea, and
my parents are, you know, like us. They're talkers and dreamers, and they're doers. And
so, they built the place with their own two hands, you know. And yeah, I think my parents
definitely instilled the work ethic that I have and then, you know, the reach for the
stars kinda attitude that is necessary to be an artist and to do big things like this.
Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar often find themselves traveling the world and participating in other
art festivals and gallery exhibitions. The pair are no strangers to this bohemian lifestyle.
WONG: You know, I've been lucky where you do art shows and stuff, and then people fly
you out to all over the world to sort of like paint and do different things and do design
work. You know. Like, this year alone, I have to fly to Germany and Montreal, and Bali and
Hong Kong, and just for like different things that I gotta do out there. And own a small
gallery in Hong Kong too. So, it kind of has led us to a lot of amazing places and to do
a lot of amazing things.
How much do you think the travel that both of you have done, even before you became professional
artists; you both had experience living abroad. How did that help you? I'm sure it helped
in some way.
HADAR: Yeah. I mean, I think that's a huge thing that was instilled into me from a baby,
was you know, my parents were always traveling and always taking my brother and I all over
the world. And I just grew up, you know, constantly experiencing new places and new people, and
seeing new things. And I think that to me, you know, just gives you that kinda open-mindedness
that is really good for a creative person. Because it just proves to you that, you know,
there are so many different types of people, and so many different types of point of views
in the world, and to never just have tunnel vision with anything. You know, and that the
world is huge and the possibilities are endless. You know.
WONG: Yeah; yeah, definitely.
You had you had experience in Japan before you became a working adult. It's interesting,
'cause one parent is from Macao, one is from Hong Kong.
WONG: Yeah.
But you chose Japan as the place you'd travel to a lot.
WONG: Yeah. Yeah, I've definitely traveled to Japan a lot. [CHUCKLE] I think that's probably
'cause I was so interested in the culture growing up. You know, I went there to study
Manga at Kyoto Seika Daigaku.
Ah ...
WONG: And I couldn't speak any Japanese, and even when I was there, I couldn't speak anything.
So, I just would show up to class and just guess as to what I was supposed to do. [CHUCKLE]
But it was fun, though.
You have to be brave to go do that, go to another part of the world you haven't been
to, and show up and not speak the language, and take classes.
WONG: Yeah; it was fun. I kind of enjoy those kind of experiences, sort of picking up and
leaving, and then going to a city where you like, know nobody and trying to start over
and meet people. It kinda opens up your horizons. 'Cause I think growing up in Hawaii, like
going to school here, like, I didn't even know that art colleges existed, even, and
that there was even like, art high schools too. Like, I had no idea about that kinda
stuff. And I thought that if you wanted to be in the arts industry, that you had to either
do graphic design or something similar to that. And so, I lived in Portland first for
a little while, and I went to Lewis and Clark College. And then, while I was there, I discovered
that there was art colleges. So, I transferred myself over to the California College of the
Arts in San Francisco, and that's when I got involved more with like, galleries and doing
shows, and learning all that kind of stuff. And I was really into that; I was doing like,
six shows or six to nine shows a year, just because it was just such a new world to me.
'Cause I never experienced that before.
After Jasper Wong studied art in California and Japan, a move to Hong Kong reshaped his
career path. It was a move that would eventually impact the art scene in Hawaii.
WONG: I moved to Hong Kong because I wanted to learn about manufacturing.
Manufacturing ...
WONG: Like, anything. Like, I know that when I went to art college, like they teach you
concepts and ideas. But then, what is that process to get your idea to the physical form?
A shoe, a chair, or anything for that matter. Like, what is that, how do you get that to
sort of become an actual product?
Was that related to your art career?
WONG: Yeah; yeah. And so then, I wanted to sort of learn how to do that kinda stuff.
Because if not, then I'm always just sort of like, I could never really start my own
thing without learning the process of sort of getting from Point A to Point B. But then,
when I was there, I wanted to keep doing art shows. And then, so I started taking my portfolio,
just taking my stuff around to like, all the galleries. And in Hong Kong, the gallery scene
is more finance-based, 'cause it's a city of trade. And so, all the galleries were more
like, painting inventory stores. They weren't really trying to push younger artists or doing
shows. I mean, it's a lot different now, 'cause now they have the art base over there. But
then, when I was living there, it was totally different. And at that time, mainland Chinese
art was sort of like, the hot commodity. Like, if you weren't mainland Chinese, then they
wouldn't care. So, I took my art around, and they didn't want to show my work because it
wasn't a good investment. You know, like there was no potential. So, my choice was to either
just give up, or start my own gallery. So, I just ended up starting my own little gallery
and just to push my own art, and then push friends' art. And so, we just did that. And
the first show in that little gallery was the first Pow Wow.
You came up with the name, Pow Wow?
WONG: Yeah, yeah; Pow Wow. Yeah; 'cause the Pow was sort of the reaction that art has
on the viewer; it's like a punch in the face. It came from like comic books. And the Wow
is sort of your reaction to that work. So it's like Pow and Wow.
So, this is not the Narragansett term for gathering. This is completely not that.
WONG: Oh, yeah. No; yeah. But then, you know, when it's together, then it's a gathering.
So it felt like, well then, the roots came from comic books originally. So, we have the
exclamation marks behind each word as sort of like Pow, and then Wow, and then Pow Wow
together, it's like a gathering to celebrate art, culture, music. It felt like it was the
perfect term for what we were pushing and what we were doing. You know. And so, it became
that, and afterwards, it was like we want to keep doing it, and so, where could we do
it. You know, either we could do it in Berlin, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, wherever there
was friends that had spaces. And then Hawaii was a choice too. But you know, growing up
in Hawaii, we were always like, was it the best spot to do it? Like, do you think people
would really care about it? And we felt like we should try.
Well, what is it? I mean, what is the essence of Pow Wow?
WONG: It is a gathering to sort of bring—just like, if we got that many people together
of just like, all these creative people into one place, then something amazing is gonna
happen. And also, we felt like galleries or museums, there's always that sort of barrier.
Like, as an everyday person, sometimes you're kind of afraid to sort of pass that threshold
and go into a gallery, because you feel like maybe it's not for you, or maybe it's for
like high society or something. So then, if we paint on walls in public, you have no choice.
Like, it's right in front of you. You know, the artwork that you draw, like it's right
there.
HADAR: And also, the murals bring other positive things. Not only does it bring attention to
their businesses and to their land and buildings. But you know, I think a common misconception
is that you know, this is gonna attract vandalism, but it actually you know, does quite the opposite.
Once the walls are painted, it becomes not completely untouchable, but let's say people
don't mess with the artwork. I mean, it's a big deal to vandalize somebody's artwork.
So, the caretakers of the land have actually told us that you know, they buff out probably
a quarter the amount of graffiti that they used to, or illegal you know, vandalism that
they used to.
Is that respect paid by graffiti artists to other artists?
WONG: We're also very inclusive of the whole graffiti community. Like, we try to include
them into the project as well, and we try to give them a voice through those walls.
And I think by doing that, to a lot of them, it make the place to them more sacred.
Kamea Hadar grew up with the multicultural backgrounds of a Hawaii-born mother of Japanese
and Korean ancestry and a father from Israel. His art studies led him to faraway places
like the University of Saint Louis in Madrid, Israel's University of Tel Aviv, and the Sorbonne
in Paris.
HADAR: You know, I had time at the Sorbonne in Paris, and you know, studied in Europe.
And so, yeah, I mean, I came from that very classical kind of base. And a lot of the artists
in Pow Wow came from the other way around, where they came from the street and they came
as, you know, graffiti artists that, you know, a lot of the stuff they do—actually, almost
all of the stuff they started off doing is just completely illegally, you know, painting.
Is that an odd mix of artists?
HADAR: Yeah. I mean, I think that's the beauty of it, is that we have all these different
artists, and everyone gets along so well.
They respect each other?
HADAR: Yeah. The process of creation and collaboration are two of the biggest things that we stress
at Pow Wow. So, collaboration, you know, not only makes for better, more interesting art
many times, but also, it's a beautiful thing to see artists share their cultures through
art.
WONG: We all stay at the Utopium, you know, Kamea's family's home up in North Shore, and
we make it a point to sort of put them all in one big house together. You know. And that
way, you're sort of forced to sort of—
Sounds like a future reality show to me.
WONG: Yeah; it is. There's always sometimes—
HADAR: Definitely had a whole big campus in that house.
WONG: Yeah.
[CHUCKLE]
WONG: And so then, like they're forced to hang out with each other. You know, like you
have no choice but to make a connection with the person that you're sleeping next to. And
then by the time you're painting, then everyone's sort of more relaxed and cool, there's less
egos going around. It's more like, hey, we're all painting together, we're all having fun
in Hawaii together, let's just have a good time and let's just make it happen.
HADAR: You know, Hawaii is a very, very mixed place. You know, I'm hapa, so I have, you
know, parents from very different cultures. So, I mean, to see that in physical form on
the wall painted, you know, you can see like an artist from Australia and a Cambodian artist
painting together, and you get all these different mixes. And you literally see the art twisting
together. I think it's one of the most beautiful things. There's a wall near the new Starbucks
off of Ala Moana Boulevard, and it was one of the walls that was created by five artists.
One was from Australia, one was from Hawaii, one was from London, and one was from Cambodia.
The Cambodian artist was the one who I think you're speaking of, who did the Naga snake,
which is that mythical Cambodian snake that kind of weaves throughout the piece and kind
of, to me, like tied it all together.
WONG: And so, you learn a lot being around a lot of artists, and you sort of pick up
different things that they do, and try to apply it to yourself, and it kinda opens your
mind as to like what's possible. You know. 'Cause I would never have thought, like Rone,
when you started using the weed sprayer to paint with.
HADAR: Yeah.
A weed sprayer?
HADAR: Yeah. Yeah; I mean, the artist that I painted with this year, one of them, his
name is Rone. He's from Australia, and I mean, he taught me some amazing things. And a lot
of the techniques, he developed himself. And he really didn't have to share his secrets
with me, and he did. And I mean, it completely changed the way that I look at a lot of my
art. And you know, I even told him that I'm gonna tell people that it's called Roneing,
because I'm naming it after you, or you have to name it after yourself 'cause these are
your techniques. But I mean, I think the best way to get better is to be around people that
are on different levels, and it's amazing how much you can learn. You know. And that's
part of, you know, sharing cultures. You learn about each other's cultures, and you also
learn about art itself and how to create art. How different people create art, and how they
have different paints in different parts of the country and different parts of the world,
and the tools that they use, and what they have available and what they don't, and how
they find creative ways to get around lack of tools or lack of paint, or lack of you
know, places to paint. And it just really broadens your horizons as an artist.
And what was the most successful? I don't know if there is one, 'cause you've had so
many really beautiful pieces. What would you say would be the one that people remember
the most, so far?
WONG: The one he did, with Rone. Kamea did one on Cooke and Pohukaina, of Shana, of his
girlfriend's face.
HADAR: Yeah; it's like a whole side of the building and, it's just a close-up of her
face looking up into the sky.
WONG: People love that one.
HADAR: I've gotten a lot of amazing feedback on that one.
WONG: The one at 123 [INDISTINCT] that was [INDISTINCT] Slick. And the one on Kaimana
Street.
HADAR: Kamani.
WONG: Kamani Street; that's Ann Namba's shop.
And Ann Namba is?
WONG: Is Kamea's auntie.
HADAR: My auntie. [CHUCKLE]
Yeah; Ann Namba, the fashion designer. And you've done work for her, even as a teenager.
HADAR: Yeah; I've been doing graphic design for her, you know, designing her textiles
since I was uh, fifteen.
So, art runs in the family, obviously.
HADAR: It definitely runs in the family. Yeah. And she's also one of Pow Wow's biggest supporters.
She helps run our fundraiser, and she really is a believer in what we're doing.
Are there other women artists who participate?
WONG: There's a ton; yeah. There's a bunch; yeah. We make it a point to find like a balance.
I mean, granted, within the street art community, I mean, it's definitely male dominant, for
sure. But we make it a point to sort of bring in as many females. And we actually have our
art school, and our school has about thirty-five students, and the majority or the most talented
kids is all girls, all females.
How do people find your art school?
HADAR: Right now, it's been very word of mouth, just 'cause it's small. Yyou know, as we develop
and grow—
WONG: It's also free, too.
HADAR: Yeah. You know, we fund it, so we just simply can't afford to teach the amount of
students that we want to. I mean, we're gonna try our best to keep growing.
Let me ask you; as former public school students in Honolulu, did you see your art or music
classes cut, or did you have them?
WONG: Yeah. No; yeah, yeah, yeah. We were there. I took classes, but we knew that the
resources were so limited. And I stay in touch with my art teacher, and then she tells me
it's tough being an art teacher in Hawaii, 'cause then sometimes you don't even have
the right kinda paint to teach with. Like, you know, they'll have like a lot of Tempera.
You can't really teach people how to paint with Tempera paint. You know. 'Cause they
can't afford like acrylics or oils, or something. You know.
HADAR: I mean, we're hoping to create an art school that, when we were that age, we would
have loved to be part of. You know. And that's what we want to create for the next generation,
is giving them, you know, all their classes are being cut in school, but then they have
this outlet over here, and it's free to them and they can come. And if I had a million
dollars to start a school with, you know, thousands of kids, I would do it now. You
know. Because that's something that my auntie said she would have loved, you know, that
we would have loved. I mean, everyone who's a creative now said that, you know, they could
have always used more when they were younger.
And sometimes, it's a lifesaver for kids who don't have a passion or another outlet that
they can access.
WONG: Yeah. Oh, yeah; some of the students there, it's like, we also do like portfolio
reviews and even college counseling to sort of show them that there is way to get into
art colleges and stuff. 'Cause then, I wish I had that. You know. Like I didn't even know
about art colleges. And so, we'll do all that kinda work, and we've actually helped to get
some students into art colleges.
The developing arts movement in Kakaako inspired by Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar is not limited
to their annual Pow Wow Hawaii event. Other community events such as Eat the Street and
Honolulu Night Market have sprung up, perhaps in part because of the popularity of Pow Wow
Hawaii. The pair has also established a headquarters in the neighborhood.
WONG: Lana Lane is this five thousand square foot warehouse that Kamehameha Schools sort
of helped us acquire, that we turned into a creative studio. So basically, it's just
a bunch of artist studios that we rent out for really, really cheap just to give artists
a space to work out of, and to sort of collaborate together with, and we provide the facilities.
And we have a variety of people from like painters, screen printers, to like fabric
dyers, to people that work on motorbikes, to video editors, to musicians, and everything.
And so, it's it's really, to be honest, like an artist favela, 'cause then everyone just
sort of creates their own space in there. And it was a super loft space that we sort
of just all worked on, and it's mostly managed by Jeffrey Gress, who also helps out with
Pow Wow as well. So, it's one of our projects that we sort of created to sort of create
more of an arts—
So, it was an abandoned property that you rehabbed?
WONG: Yeah; before, it was a concrete company. Before, it was like a tire company; like,
they sort of fixed cars and did tires in there. And so, it's one of these sort of like empty
spaces that no one really knew what to do with. And as artists, we sort of see it as
an opportunity. And so, we sort of used the space to create something that we wanted for
the artist community in Hawaii. You know. And so, it's become like sort of our headquarters
and a gathering place.
And where is it?
WONG: It's on Lana Lane. It's called Lana Lane Studios, but it's on this private road
called Lana Lane. And it's right on Auahi Street between Cooke and Coral.
Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar consider themselves a good duo, because they see themselves as
both dreamers and doers with good creative and business sense. They acknowledge that
organizing Pow Wow Hawaii is an enormous undertaking, but a task they look forward to taking on
again.
It's such a remarkable phenomenon, and yet, you can't rest on your laurels 'cause it's
just as hard the next year. Right? And you're not paying your own money for it, but you're—
WONG: Well, we like, make it harder for ourselves by making it bigger.
Right. You're always upping the learning curve for yourselves.
HADAR: Yeah. Yeah; I mean, I guess that's the dreamer part, you know, is that you know,
you're never completely satisfied, you're always hungry for more, you're always motivated
to do bigger and better. You know. I mean, one of my favorite things that we've been
doing the last couple years is blacking out and destroying the pieces. Some of them. You
know. And people are always shocked when we do that, and that's one of my favorite things
in the world to do.
Why is that? 'Cause you love creativity, and now you're destroying.
HADAR: Because it just proves that it's really not about the finished product, that's something
that you're gonna sell. I mean, you know, every artist needs to make a living, and you
know, we have gallery shows and the pieces are for sale. But that's not the only thing
that drives us. It's also the power of creativity and collaboration. All the artists working
together and the process of all of us working together, and to see that happen and to be
a part of it as an artist, it's a beautiful thing. And whatever we create, you know, it's
not that important. You know.
WONG: Yeah.
HADAR: It's not as important sometimes as that whole process.
WONG: It brings it back to sort of how we were when we were drawing or doodling, and
painting when we were little kids. You know, none of us were thinking at that age that
we were painting or drawing to sort of make a living or to sell this particular canvas.
But then, we just did it 'cause we loved it and it was fun. And I think when you do it
that way, when you sort of create it just for the fun of creation, and then destroy
it afterwards, it kind of reminds us that it's really just about having fun and painting,
and creating.
Artists Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar say they'll continue to do their part to grow this new
art movement in Hawaii. They hope to bring in new groups of artists for collaboration
and future murals in urban Honolulu. Jasper and Kamea are also considering expanding Pow
Wow into several other countries as well. Mahalo to Jasper Wong and Kamea Hadar for
sharing their story with us. And mahalo to you for joining us. For PBS Hawaii and Long
Story Short, I'm Leslie Wilcox. A hui hou.
For audio and written transcripts of this program, and all episodes of Long Story Short
with Leslie Wilcox, visit pbshawaii.org.
HADAR: You should never be completely comfortable. I think, you know, any artist can tell you
that if you look at, you know, your work from a year ago or two years ago, or three years
ago, I mean, you instantly see how you've progressed. And if you don't, I mean, you
should; you should be constantly looking at how you can move.