Kamea Hadar

    Kamea Hadar was raised in Honolulu by his Japanese/Korean mother and his Israeli father. As a child, Hadar’s worldview was shaped by his frequent travel with his family,

    He says, “…I just grew up 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 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. And that the world is huge and the possibilities are endless.”

    Hadar continued traveling after childhood, studying not only at the Honolulu Art Academy at the University of Hawaii, but also at the Sorbonne in Paris, the University of St. Louis in Madrid, and the University of Tel Aviv in Israel. In 2010, Hadar became the co-lead director of POW! WOW! Hawaii with his high school friend, Jasper Wong.

    The two founded the organization on the principles of “collaboration” and “process,” hosting artists at Hadar’s family’s estate during the week-long festival. This encourages not only interaction and cultural exchange, asserts Hadar. As for process, the group has recently started blacking out some of their completed murals. Hadar believes this puts the project back in perspective by prioritizing the creative journey over the completed product. However, he and Wong do recognize that completed murals do bring positive results to the neighborhood, such as attention to businesses, land, and buildings and greatly reduce vandalism.

    POW! WOW! continues to host festivals world-wide. Hadar is the youngest person on the board of the Hawaii Arts Alliance, a member of the National Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network and currently lives in Honolulu.

     Written by Amelia Nixon

    Sources: http://kameahadar.com/gallery/about, http://powwowhawaii.com/participants/kamea-hadar/, https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/travel/pow-wow-hawaii-israel-kamea-hadar, https://missbish.com/pow-wow-co-founder-kamea-hadar-paints-a-14-story-hawaiian-goddess-of-the-moon-mural/, https://news.1xrun.com/pow-wow-co-lead-director-kamea-hadars-life-changing-mural/

    Image Source (Top): - Kamea Hadar Gallery -

    2018

    Untitled by Kamea Hadar

    On the side of a Jean Machine store, Kamea Hadar’s mural stretches 55 feet high. Hadar painted the untitled mural for POW! WOW! Long Beach’s 2018 summer festival. The mural depicts a female dancer in two poses. The mural’s background matches the figure’s dress and consists of a gradient that transitions from bottom to top from dark blue to navy to light blue to lime green. The mural is best viewed from the opposite side of The Promenade N. Hadar’s mural was a collaboration with Hawaiian Airlines and reflects themes of environmentalism. The female dancer in the mural appears submerged, reflecting the themes of water, the ocean, and how the flow of water brings life. The two faces of the subject represent inner conflict and balance. Fluidly reaching upward, her arm is encircled by a vine, conveying the unity of people, water, and nature. The artist is also the co-lead director of POW! WOW! Hawaii and helped create the global organization with childhood friend Jasper Wong. Since its creation in 2010, POW! WOW! festivals have taken place all over the world as the organization continues to find new partner cities. Of POW! WOW!’s choice of street art, Hadar says, “I think the thing that street art does is it becomes a lot more accessible to people. The very sterile, traditional gallery environment can be very intimidating for most people. In my opinion, art should be for everyone, and street art really helps to do that. You can paint on a building and you can lean against that building. You can touch the art. You can experience it. You can ride your bike around and enjoy it and like it or dislike it or have an opinion about it, but it's there and people are less scared to interact with it.” Written by Amelia Nixon

    Sources: https://www.pbshawaii.org/long-story-short-with-leslie-wilcox-jasper-wong-and-kamea-hadar/, https://vimeo.com/280680068

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