In Hawaiian, the word Waikiki means “Spouting Fresh Water,” and while its a far cry from what it once was, I think it’s important to remember that Waikiki was once a thriving and self sustaining ecosystem of wetlands, fed by fresh water springs and rivers coming down from the Koolaus.

Inspired by the movies and paintings of Hayao Miyazaki, for this piece, I used a mix of traditional watercolor and digital character illustrations (based off of a number of different photo references, as well as my own personal experience working alongside the amazing organizers and volunteers of the Genki Ala Wai Project) to create this shared vision of what the Ala Wai could look like in the very near future. - JZ