Center for Cultural power: Sonja John

This mural is dedicated to the BIPOC artist disruptors and culture bearers educating, organizing, and most importantly, caring for our communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis. Communities that are struggling right now to live with wildfires and other extreme weather events, rising floodwaters, polluted air and water, and the extractive systems that exacerbate these crises. Not only do we inject life with beauty, joy, insight, meaning and inspiration, we help everyone imagine a better future and metabolize a right relationship with Nature. Culture is Power. Culture moves faster than politics. Culture speaks to our hearts. Artists have the solutions and stories we need. 

About the mural, Sonja writes: “The work depicts my sister, Na'amah, and her son Luca, on a beach in West Maui. Their lives have been drastically altered by the Lahaina fires and they have been struggling with everyday transitions like starting school and more existential ones, like stewardship of local water sources as luxury developments, plantations and resorts vie to cut off access. Endangered Hawaiian species in the painting remind us of a key fact: We are Nature defending herself.”