This began as a letter
and became a way of working.
Dear you,
I grew up in a time when we still wrote letters by hand-
before messages disappeared into the scroll.
A letter took patience.
You had to sit with your thoughts.
Choose your words carefully.
DearLoveStory began there.
Not as a brand, but as a habit—
a way of leaving something behind for people I may never meet.
These works are not about me alone.
They are about the places that welcomed me.
With love,
Prime
Why this exists
DearLoveStory exists as a practice of slowing down.
Of being present with people and places
long enough for something real to surface.
The work is not made to decorate walls.
It is made to hold memory-to mark that someone was here,
and that their presence mattered.
Rooted in place
This work is guided by Hawaiian values,
not as symbols to display,
but as ways of moving through the world.
Place comes before platform.
Relationship before recognition.
Care before completion.
The work does not arrive with answers.
It listens first-and responds to what is already there.
Aloha,
My name is John “Prime” Hina. An artist and community-based practitioner, of Hawaiian and Samoan ancestry based in Hawai`i, with over two decades of experience working across art, education, and place.
My work began through community murals across Hawai`i — not only as artwork, but as a way to engage students, families, organizations, and the communities they come from.
That foundation continues to guide how I approach every project: through participation, trust, and a responsibility to the people involved.
In 2007, I founded 808 Urban, a Native-Hawaiian Arts organization focused on arts education and community-based programming. Through that work, I’ve collaborated with schools, organizations, public spaces throughout Hawai`i, developing projects that prioritize both cultural context and long-term impact.
DearLoveStory builds on that foundation — extending this work into new places while maintaining the same approach: to enter with intention, work in relationship, and create something that holds value beyond the moment it is made.
If you’d like to understand how the work unfolds,
the process is shared here.