Kalani’s Wall Clearing Out The Smoke
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Del.icio.usKalani High teens have spray-painted a 170-foot-long wall at the school that delivers a vivid marketing message against the tobacco industry. As graffiti, it’s instantly cool, but as an anti-smoking message, it might take a little longer to sink in.
“One of my good friends - he’s a good guy - he smokes to relieve stress and got up to two packs a day,” said Yasmina Taketa, 17, one of 15 sanctioned taggers in the “Smoking the Wall” project, which was completed last month.“I got him to reduce that down to two cigarettes a day, but it went back up. It’s hard for him to quit.”
Speaking just before the Nov. 14 unveiling, Taketa’s classmate Rosco Takamoto agreed that breathing in so many toxins can be dangerous, especially acetone, which he depicted on his part of the wall.
“I know people that smoke, and my teacher’s good friend died from emphysema,” said Takamoto, 16.
“I did this to help get the word out, and I’ve noticed that the more we put on the wall, the more people walk by and check it out.”
“Smoking the Wall” began last spring with Kalani art teacher John Nippolt, who presented it as a freedom of speech issue to his general art students.
“We have a lot of good writers (graffiti artists),” he said, “but their canvas is small.”
He campaigned for permission to use the wall, located at the back of the campus, and won a $1,000 grant to buy the spray paint and “go after the tobacco industry in their own style.”
The grant came from Hawaii’s Youth Movement Exposing the Tobacco Industry, called REAL.
“REAL is sponsoring this art project because we are trying to counter the tobacco industry’s deceptive marketing tactic of using art to persuade us to buy their deadly products,” explained Courtney Viernes-Silva, a Waipahu High sophomore and member of REAL.
“I never sprayed a wall before,” admitted Taketa, “and this was a great chance to try. It’s the most exciting thing, and it gives a ‘tagging is not bad’ message.”
REAL funding comes from the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund, which is the state’s portion of a settlement against four tobacco companies to recover costs for treatment of tobacco-related illnesses paid for by taxpayers.
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