Teiano Lesa, Enoch Leui and volunteers make final touches on a mural they designed to honor their Tongan and Samoan heritage, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2019, in downtown Provo.
A north-facing brick wall off of University Avenue just got more artistic after two Brigham Young University students designed and painted a mural to honor their Pacific Island heritage.
Enoch Lui and Teiano Lesa, both of whom study advertising at BYU, had the idea for the “passion project” after feeling like their cultures needed greater visual representation in Utah. Lui is half Tongan and Lesa is half Samoan.
“People here (in Utah), more than anywhere else, understand what Polynesians are,” Lesa said, noting that the state has one of the highest concentrations of Polynesians in the country. “But they don’t know a lot about the culture.”
Read the full story written by Connor Richards at the Daily Herald.