The brick wall.  Everyday I would wake up, walk around the apartment, say hello to whomever was awake and we would all slowly congregate for our breakfast, morning coffee and cigarette while standing on the 3 and a half foot wide 14 foot long porch, connected to the backside of the apartment building.  I would rest my hands on the railing and inhale the fresh morning air of Kalihi. Everyday we sat on this back porch and talked, relaxed, ate, and drank.  our view from the porch was somewhat grey, kind of blockish.  It was a brick wall that stood directly in front of us.  Our view of what would have been a perfect view of one the bays and shipping yards near by.

The house I stayed in was only a two bedroom that had four people already living in it and they were kind enough to take me and kimani in for a week.  It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. Kimani and I would switch back and forth between sleeping on an air mattress in the house or a hammock on the back porch.  I really enjoyed sleeping in the hammock on the porch, it doesn’t get a whole lot better then sleeping outside under the stars in Hawaii, which was one of the reasons the brick wall came in handy.  There was a street light on just on the other side of the building which would’ve shined right in my eyes if the wall was not there.   Listening to the sounds of the city winding down for the night was a very relaxing time. The sound of the wind whipping through the alley and the creeks of the hammock rope became a very soothing sound to hear at night. Police sirens wailing at all hours of the night just became a drone blending in with the cool night air.

When the morning came, it was very noticeable with the change in sound and how it echoed through the alley and bounced off the walls.  Early in the morning, around 4 am when my friend Burke would get up for work i was usually awakened too.  I could hear the steady movement of traffic already heading into chinatown to set up for the day’s grind.  A lot of times I was up early enough to catch the morning sunrise just to the right of the brick wall. There was a little sliver of openness in which you could see the sun coming up from the water, past the brick wall and into the sky to burn off all the cool air from the night.

The brick wall was a thing of imagery. Although the wall had no murals or paintings on its surface, it was an intriguing wall. It was something that you could stare at for hours and continue to make different shapes and objects out of the stains and bird droppings on the bricks.  The longer you stared the more intricate the objects would become.  On one of the days I  sat on the porch for a couple hours with my sketchbook to see what shapes and figures I could make out on the wall.  needless to say, it was an interestingly fun couple of hours.  I have never really drawn images from trying to create them from scratch by stairing at different stains on a wall.

Hawaii has walls throughout its towns and cities that are filled with beauty.  Kimani and I were told by a some locals that an artist named Ron Artis is an artist from North Shore that does a lot of wall murals and art. We were able to get a ride up to north shore one day and we found some of his wall art and thought how incredibly detailed and beautiful the wall murals are but how he can turn a simple brick wall into a priceless piece of art.

there were some days I couldn’t help but imagine what life would’ve been like had that wall not been there.  I probably would’ve gotten much more sunburn, but on the other hand I would have been able to see the ocean from my back porch.   think I can honestly say that I’ve never really had this much interaction just staring at a brick wall with nothing really on it. But I can also honestly say that I kind of enjoyed it, seeing different art pop up before my eyes out of nowhere was a very interesting experience.