Fishing for Hope
A crisis-line mural on Kalena Street that tells anyone who needs it: text "Aloha" to 741-741.
WHY THIS WALL
In 2020 Trysen and artist Seth Womble painted Fishing for Hope across the M. Tanaka Store building on Kalena Street in Līhuʻe, the first of three mental health murals for the Kauaʻi Resilience Project with Kauaʻi Planning & Action Alliance, funded through the County of Kauaʻi's Kupaʻa Kauaʻi grant program.
The wall reads like a rescue at sea. A lighthouse stands at one end, and a lone fisherman in a boat sends a text bubble that says "Aloha, I need help." Across the open water the lighthouse answers, "Hello, I'm here for you," above the message the whole wall exists to share: Text "Aloha" to 741-741, the free crisis text line. Below the surface, an ahi, a mahimahi and a giant heʻe swim through the light, and seabirds ride the wind overhead.
The project was personal. Trysen had been through a hard year, and painting the wall became part of his own healing. "I feel really good that I've been able to be a part of this mural," he told KHON2. Mayor Derek Kawakami joined the artists, the Tanaka and Koga ʻohana and community members to celebrate the finished wall.
In the press: KHON2 and The Garden Island.
DRAG TO REVEAL
LAYER BY LAYER
WANT ONE LIKE THIS?
Community walls give people a message to carry and a place to be proud of, every day. Community murals start at $35 per sq ft. Small murals start at $3K.
