Past, Present, Futures: Telling Indigenous Stories through an Urban Art Aesthetic

Indigenous muralists across the Pacific have adopted urban art aesthetics as a strategic means of asserting ongoing presence, celebrating cultural traditions, and articulating visions of Indigenous futures. This research note examines two murals by Hawaiian artists Carl F.K. Pao, Cory Taum, and Solomon Enos that were included in the 2021 Bishop Museum exhibition POW! WOW! The First Decade: From Hawai‘i to the World. Through urban art’s accessible visual language, these artists assert an enduring Indigenous will to self-define, ground their work in ancestral knowledge, and articulate temporal visions that span past, present, and multiple futures.