The Mayor’s Office of Culture and the Arts, in collaboration with the East-West Center Arts Program, will present 'Ocean of Peace,' a group exhibition featuring seven artists of Micronesian heritage at Honolulu Hale from May 8 to June 11, 2026. The exhibition centers on the 'Ocean of Peace' declaration, a political and cultural framework endorsed at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting in the Solomon Islands in September 2025, which envisions Pacific Island nations as sovereign and free from geopolitical conflict and coercion. Participating artists include James Bamba, Carol Ann Carl, Gillian Duenas, Kalany Omengkar, Anthony Watson, Lissette Yamase, and Manny Crisostomo, exploring themes of Indigenous Pacific knowledge, identity, and storytelling.
This exhibition matters because it brings contemporary Micronesian voices into a civic space during a time of intensifying geopolitical competition in the Pacific, using art to assert cultural sovereignty and reframe the region on its own terms. By linking an official diplomatic framework with visual art, poetry, dance, and music, the show models how cultural institutions can amplify Indigenous perspectives and foster public dialogue about Pacific autonomy and resilience.