#Pow! Wow! Hawaii

[stxalq]

you know, the thing i always forget about hawaii is it's not in the same sovereign position as, say, like a reservation. my assumption was always that at least tourism was a net wealth gain for the islands, in the same way that our logging, gas station, casino and annual pow wow are arguably a net gain (though also arguably neutral or negative too i suppose depending on how you feel about our logging practices or exactly how many canadians are actually gambling and staying at the casino and how much we're just cannibalizing our own economy)

still, these business ventures put us in a position to implement a semi-annual UBI and a monthly stipend for elders. which makes me think if there's any state with a good reason to secede (and then immediately nationalize a bunch of industries to turn those billions of tourist dollars into local wealth instead of foreign profit margins), it's hawaii

[silpol]

POW! WOW! Hawaii 2012 - Robot Friends Mural - Ryuichi Ogino - Google Arts & Culture)

[geekynerfherder]

Bishop Museum and Hawaiian Airlines presents 'POW! WOW! The First Decade: From Hawaiʻi to the World', a group art exhibition curated by Jasper Wong and Andrew Hosner (Thinkspace Projects), showcasing some of the most notable Hawai‘i-based artists, international street artists, and sculptors.

The exhibit will feature over 160 artists, with 30 artists creating new murals and installations within the gallery and throughout Bishop Museum’s campus at 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, Hawai’I 96817. The exhibition will be on view from Saturday May 15 through September 19 2021.

[polaroidjay]

I was out in Hawaii recently for the POW! WOW! mural festival this year. Kevin Lyons was touching up his mural from a couple years ago. The tropical weather really beat this mural up. Really popular among tourists for photo ops. It was great meeting Kevin for the first time, really nice dude. Shot this with MiNT Camera InstantKon RF70 camera on Instax Wide film. A lot of the photos I shot on this trip were either Instax Wide or 35mm film since I didn’t get any support from Polaroid Originals. Expect more photos from me in the next couple of days since i’ve got a lot of scanning to do.

[supersonicart]

“Exploring the New Contemporary Art Movement, Vol. 7.”

Opening on Tuesday, February 11th at the Wade Warehouse in Honolulu, Hawaii is the 7th annual group exhibition, “Exploring the New Contemporary Art Movement” curated by Thinkspace Projects for POW! WOW! HAWAII!

The exhibition features over 100 New Contemporary artists, making it one of the most significant showings of the movement.  The show takes place during the week long mural festival, POW! WOW!, which sees artists from around the world come to Honolulu’s Kaka’ako district to create murals and embrace and share Hawaii and their cultures with one another.

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Be sure to follow Supersonic Art on Instagram for POW! WOW! updates.

[streetartsf]

LVL 44

Jeff Gress

S. Almaden Ave @ The Alameda in San Jose

Looks Starwar's inspired for LVL44...

Jeff Gress for 2017 Pow!wow! in Downtown San Jose. Jeff is a typography artist based in Hawaii and goes by @pro_gress on Instagram.

[jasonraish]

“Cultural Enlightenment” 8x10″, Acrylic and Ink on Moleskin Paper, 2019. Spoke Art’s 9th Annual Moleskin Project group show at POW! WOW! Hawai’i.  I was really struck by the persimmons on trees covered with snow last time I was in Korea in December. Persimmons are considered a symbol of the importance of cultural education in the upbringing of children, because the trees are propagated through grafts instead of from seeds. More culture and tradition is being lost with every generation as Koreans move further from their Confucian roots, embrace more western culture, and suppress their self expression less. It's an interesting dichotomy of keeping tradition while allow for individualism, much like the ripened fruit on the barren branch in the winter snow.

https://spoke-art.com/blogs/news/next-month-moleskine-project-at-pow-wow-hawaii

[thehundreds]

The Draculas at POW! WOW! Hawaii. 

Photo Diary :: An Inside Look at the Street Art of POW! WOW! Hawaii

[eiruvsq]

Artist:

Tara McPherson

"Finito!!! Sitting in front of the heaters as we speak drying the final touches so I can coat her, dry some more, then scan her. While she dries I need to pack for Pow! Wow! Hawaii, because our flight is in 12 hours! #busybusybusy #oils #trihydrogencation#interstellarmedium #ions #creation#feminineenergy #positivecharge #stellarevolution."

https://www.facebook.com/taramcpherson/

[basking-in-the-golden-sun]

Kaka'ako Street Art

[portuausencia]

Suminigashi x Ink | November 2018

[digitaltripz]

one to keep 02/18 Kaka'ako, Hawaii IG: @digitaltripz

[geekynerfherder]

Spoke Art presents 'The Moleskine Project IX', group art exhibition during Pow! Wow! Hawai'i, featuring artwork from over 100 artists around the world.

The exhibition will be on view from 6-10pm Tuesday February 11 until Sunday February 16 at 441 Cooke Street, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96813.

[polaroidjay]

Murals and mural progress from POW! WOW! Hawaii 2018. I’ve been having trouble with uploading a lot of my Polaroids from February because I keep getting errors on tumblr. 

[supersonicart]

The Ninth Annual “Moleskine Project” at POW! WOW! HAWAII!

Opening on Tuesday, February 11th at 441 Cooke Street in Honolulu, Hawaii is the 9th annual group exhibition, “Moleskine Project,” co-curated by Ken Hashimoto of Spoke Art and artist Rodrigo Luff for POW! WOW! HAWAII!

Featuring over 60 artists from around the world, the exhibition will be on view during the week long mural festival POW! WOW! which sees artists from around the world descend on the Kaka’ako district of Honolulu to create stunning murals and engage in the community to share ideas and cultures.

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Be sure to follow Supersonic Art on Instagram to see more updates from POW! WOW!

[memecucker]

I think one of the things that’s making reading the history of pro wrestling is when all of a sudden other social issues kinda pop up and yeah it’s not like that’s unique to wrestling but it’s interesting nonetheless.

For example the guy that’s considered to be the father of Japanese professional wrestling was a guy named Rikidozan whose background was in sumo. The name “Rikidozan” was actually his shikona which is basically someone’s sumo name they adopt but his government name was Mitsuhiro Momota while his birth name was Kim Sin-rak because the father of Japanese pro-wrestling was a Korean guy born in Korea. When he was young a Japanese businessman saw a lot of potential in him and sponsored his travel to Japan to attend a sumo dojo but his Korean ancestry was still known which resulted in a lot discrimination and harassment so he decided to get adopted by his sponsor so he could take his name and disguise his Korean heritage. That helped when it came to racism from common people but backstage there was still some amount of discrimination which culminated in a pay dispute when Rikidozan felt he wasn’t being properly compensated given his success and popularity because of his Korean heritage which caused him to retire in 1950.

After Rikidozan retired from sumo he worked as a supervisor for a construction company owned by a different Japanese businessman that also helped sponsor his sumo career named Shinsaku Nitta. Now during the war Shinsaku Nitta was an officer at a POW camp for Americans but he developed a reputation for being a “good guard” in that he felt compassion for the prisoners and would sneak extra rations or cigarettes to them. After the war word of mouth about this “good guard” spread and resulted in Nitta’s construction company doing very well during the occupation and reconstruction of Japan as it meant he was highly prioritized for contracts since a lot of GIs basically said that they owed their lives to this compassionate Japanese guard that would risk his own life and well being to save them from starvation. And one day some Americans in Tokyo decided it would be fun if they organized a pro wrestling tour with American wrestlers from Hawaii matched up against local guys and since Nitta was very tight with the American community he was able to go “Oh! If you guys are looking for Japanese people that would be good for this then I definitely know a guy” and got Rikidozan booked for the tour.

And so after only a month of training introducing Rikidozan to the world of American pro-wrestling he managed to wow the American organizers and he wound up being booked to be the main Japanese wrestler who would go over the visiting American opponents. Since this was post-WW2 Japan under Japanese occupation the crowds absolutely ate it up seeing this Japanese champion who was able to stand up to and defeat one American after another. He would then go on to tour heavily in the USA and would eventually found the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance the first Japanese pro wrestling promotion and direct precursor to NJPW and AJPW.

But yeah anyway I think that’s kinda interesting. A guy who spent much of his life subjected to anti-Korean racism and discrimination in Japan which wound up ending a promising sumo career early would eventually end up becoming a hugely popular hero and symbol of restored Japanese pride and dignity in the post-war era.