"'Ole Pau" by Solomon Enos. Courtesy University of Hawaii Maui College

Community, storytelling and visual art came together at UH Maui College last month with thrilling results. We now proudly display three powerful new murals on buildings spread across our campus. They combine the voices of the artists who created them with the voices of our community, our Maui Nui.

The murals are part of the Maui Public Art Corps (MPAC) “Hui Mo’olelo Project,” a unique and widely encompassing endeavor. MPAC trains members of the community in the art of interviewing local storytellers. The recorded sessions, with stories rooted firmly in memory and place, are then interpreted by professional artists selected and paired with the storytellers and their interviewers through an international, public call for proposals. It is a truly broad and inclusive collaboration.

The mural project came to us after Jocelyn Romero Demirbag, our Senior Director of Development, took part in one of MPAC’s mo’olelo classes. “At that time, I talked to Kelly (McHugh-White, founder of MPAC) and told her that our Chancellor would love to have Hui Mo’olelo Project murals at UHMC,” explains Romero Demirbag. “When the call came for host sites, we applied and were accepted. We walked our whole campus together to find good walls to offer to the artists.”

On the Ka’a’ike Building is “‘Ole Pau” by one of Hawai’i’s most renowned and admired artists, Solomon Enos. It is an expansive trompe l’oeil work that looks back at Kahului from the ocean. Enos said the oral histories of Uncle “Gaby” Gouveia, as told to Pualani Enos of the Matsunaga Institute for Peace, had the biggest impact on him of all the recordings he listened to. “There is a quintessential Maui flavor of sweetness, and both deep and broad cultural immersion. From fighting chickens with boxing gloves, to Uncle Gabby being invited to play catcher by the Kepani Uncle, to the advocacy for Hawaiian language,” Enos explains. And he says that Uncle Gaby is represented in every stroke of his painting.

“Nature’s Gift” by SEVEN. Courtesy University of Hawaii Maui College

“Nature’s Gift” on the Pilinia Building is based on the story that Maui’s treasured ulua fisherman, Louis Garcia III, told to Kaliko Storer. This stunning work was painted by muralist Eric Finley, Jr. (aka SEVEN). In his proposal he wrote, “Through listening (to the recording), I realized how important a role fishing plays in the lives of the island community.”

“Between Worlds” by Cbloxx. Courtesy University of Hawaii Maui College

The striking mural on the Kupa’a Building by Jay Gilleard (aka Cbloxx) is titled “Between Worlds” and is informed by conversations that stretched from 2022 to 2025 with Anuhea Yagi, master rock carver Hōaka Delos Reyes, Nicolita Garces, and Ashley Ancheta Galacgac. The painting explores ancestral knowledge, traditional healing practices, and gender fluidity. It is dominated by a carved stone healer’s face symbolizing permanence and generational wisdom.

One of our college’s most important missions is to inspire and to help our students find their voices, find their passions, and then to make contributions to our community, just as these artists have and all artists do. These murals assist in that mission. They require those who look at them to put down their phones, look up — instead of down — and to think. Think about where they come from, who they come from.

We invite everyone to visit our campus and enjoy these very beautiful and very meaningful works of art. Our Jocelyn Romero Demirbag sums it up this way. “These murals are a true gift to Maui’s community, as well as a preservation of the people and stories who make up this special place. The artists have listened well and our college is honored to provide a home for their expressions of aloha.”

You can read about the Maui Public Art Corps and complete details of the evolution of these artworks and hear the storytellers’ recordings at https://www.mauipublicart.org/uhmc.html

For complete information about UH Maui College, please visit http://maui.hawaii.edu/

Dr. Lui K. Hokoana is Chancellor of the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College. Ka’ana Mana’o, which means “sharing thoughts,” is scheduled to appear on the fourth Thursday of each month. It is prepared with assistance from UH-Maui College staff and is intended to provide the community of Maui County with information about opportunities available through the college at its Kahului campus and its education centers.