With the sponsorship of the US Embassy of New Zealand, the Mele Murals team was able to return back to Western Springs Park in Auckland to represent nation of Hawai‘i at the 25th annual Pasifika Festival. The weekend festival celebrates all the polynesian countries that span across Oceania and the Pacific.

Art major students from the Unitec Technical Institute College joined our process of grounding to draw out visions not too different from what youth in Hawai‘i would create. Visions of the ocean around them, a waka (canoe), yin and yang balance symbols, the Matariki star constellation and a tohora (whale) were transferred to the large mobile canvas. We even provided a spray paint lesson to the US Embassyʻs Charge d’Affaires, Candy Green. In the end, we learned that across the ocean, our cousins in Aotearoa/New Zealand have a similar culture to Hawaiians and are very similar minded to how we are as people.