Kamea Hadar’s Massive New Mural Transforms Kakaako Warehouse Into Pacific Art Landmark

Street artist Kamea Hadar has completed a 12,000-square-foot mural on the side of a Kakaako warehouse that is being called the largest single artwork in Hawaii and one of the most ambitious public murals in the Pacific.

The piece, titled “Moana Nui” (Great Ocean), depicts a Hawaiian woman emerging from ocean waves that morph into traditional Polynesian navigation patterns. The hyper-realistic portrait, painted in Hadar’s signature photorealist style, spans the entire four-story wall of a warehouse on Cooke Street near Ala Moana Boulevard.

“The concept is about Hawaii’s connection to the Pacific — we’re not isolated, we’re the center of the largest ocean on Earth,” Hadar said during an unveiling attended by over 300 people. “The navigation lines represent our ancestors’ mastery of that ocean.”

The mural took 28 days to complete, with Hadar working from a 60-foot boom lift for up to 12 hours daily. He used over 200 gallons of exterior-grade acrylic paint donated by Dunn-Edwards and formulated to resist Hawaii’s intense UV exposure and salt air. The company estimates the mural will retain its vibrancy for 15 to 20 years.

The project was commissioned by Kamehameha Schools, which owns the warehouse, as part of the organization’s ongoing investment in Kakaako’s creative economy. The work joins a growing constellation of murals that have made Kakaako one of the world’s most recognized street art destinations.

Hadar, a Honolulu native who studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, has painted large-scale murals in cities from Tokyo to Miami. But he said this project holds special significance. “Painting at home hits different. My grandmother lives five minutes from here. She came by every day with musubi.”