Graphic artist Solomon Enos recently engaged in talanoa at the Taro Patch Creative hub in South Auckland, sharing his experiences and aspirations with eager Pasifika artists.
Currently in Aotearoa on a residency with the Exodus Exhibition, the ‘kanaka maoli’ artist, has garnered acclaim for his work with renowned brands like Vans, Google, Pixar, and the Aulani Disney Resort.
“I like to explore indigenous science fiction. I’m very much into this idea of Pacifica Futurism,” Solomon shared, expressing his interest in unconventional storytelling.
His vision extends beyond mere art; he aims to influence communities, even those resistant to change.
“I’m very much interested in this idea of indirectly hooking people and infiltrating into, literally, gated communities and communities where people do not want to give up power,” he says.
“If we can’t get to them, we can lovingly reach out to their kids,” he explained. “We can get their kids singing along,”
Solomon emphasised the importance of envisioning healthy communities through various mediums like art, music, dance, and food.
“What does it look like when we achieve harmony in our communities?” he asked, urging artists to portray this vision.
Despite his success, Solomon remains committed to sharing his ideas freely.
“I’m not going to copyright anything because it’s kind of like, if I was a native plant, I would say, oh, here are seeds, please take them, because there needs to be more native plants. So let’s cultivate.
“I’m not going to approach you saying you owe me money for this bunch of seeds, but I’m just lucky that way that I have an endless amount of seeds,” he says.
The artist mused that he’s recently and reluctantly joined social media as a device for planting these ideas and offering them out for free.
He says he rendered his artwork in the style of Japanese animator and director Hayao Miyazaki to attract artists and storytellers to draw and encourage them to take these concepts and run with them..
“Seeds are a quantifiable thing every single tree makes ‘bazillions’. It’s constantly making sense. That’s what hope looks like,” he says.
“Yeah. If you ever need to know like that, that is a manifestation of hope. Every single tree is in Hawaii. The tree is cumulative.”
