Five local artists have been selected to join the second cohort of the Hawaiʻi Climate Action Artist Residency program, which promotes the creation of new art around climate change.
Jana Ireijo is one of the talented few who made the cut from a pool of over 65 artists.
Her commentary on climate change takes the form of murals featuring endangered animals — unlike most murals, however, they’re drawn using natural materials from the land, like water and dirt from nearby streams or charcoal left behind by wildfires.
Each piece is designed to wash away — to come from the ʻāina, and then return to it.
HPR spoke with Ireijo about the experiences that inspired her work and what she’s creating now.
Her signature vanishing murals, she explained, go all the way back to her time as a child.
“I remember being on the beach as a kid on Maui and drawing with burnt kiawe and just like shells … and all of a sudden I had this vision of a wildfire charcoal koala mural that I would draw outside, and when the rain came, it would wash it away, it would like tears were falling,” she recounted.
“This pigment had a story to tell that could say more than what I could just say on my own.”
Even once her murals are erased, however, their impact and aura remain.
“There's always a ghost image that remains, and to me, it's just as powerful, if not more powerful, than a fully drawn, complete image,” she explained.
Her hope is that, through the Hawaiʻi Climate Action Artist Residency program, her art can continue to inspire communities towards conservation — both in Hawaiʻi and beyond.
“Hawaiʻi is so inspiring to me. We're so innovative. We're so creative. We've had to be, and I think we're an example for the rest of the world.”
More of Ireijo’s artwork can be seen on her website here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Sept. 30, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
