We landed in Masset for the second time on a warm August afternoon. Same single runway, same single-room airport. Different feeling. This time we knew the road from the airport, knew who’d be waiting, knew what we were heading back to do.
![PHOTO — arrival at Masset airport, tarmac or terminal]
Cal was there again. The familiarity of it hit differently than I expected.
The Structure
The tsunami tower had been sitting across from the school entrance since March, waiting. A practical thing — emergency infrastructure — that we’d been given permission to make into something more. Between that visit and this one, Jaalen had been working on what the art would look like.
![PHOTO — tsunami tower exterior, before install]
Walking up to it again, I could see it fresh. Two hoops, glass backboards. A covered space open on the sides. The bones of something.
![PHOTO — interior of the tower, hoops and backboards]
Building Days
We spent the first full day doing prep. Cleaning surfaces, organizing materials, setting up.
![PHOTO — prep day, team working inside the tower]
By day two we were into it. Jaalen works with intention. Every mark deliberate. Watching him work is like watching someone have a conversation with the surface they’re painting — responsive, patient.
![PHOTO — Jaalen working on the mural]
![PHOTO — detail shot of artwork in progress]
The local youth came through. That’s the part that always matters most. Seeing the space start to mean something to the people it was built for before it’s even finished.
![PHOTO — youth/community members at the tower during build]
The Community
A few familiar faces from March. A few new ones.
![PHOTO — community gathering, school or gym]
We ran an evening pickup game at the school. The kind that stretches past what anyone planned. That’s always the sign.
![PHOTO — pickup game at the school gym]
The Land
We got back out into it. That part of the world doesn’t let you stay inside for long.
![PHOTO — boat, beach, or nature out from Masset]
Finished
The last day we stood back and looked at what it had become. Hard to describe what it feels like when something lands the way you hoped it would.
![PHOTO — completed gallery space, wide shot]
![PHOTO — detail of completed mural]
The tsunami tower is still a tsunami tower. But now it’s also a gallery. A place the school walks past every morning. A place with some of their stories on it.
![PHOTO — kids or community members in/around the finished space]
We flew south. Below, the coast, the islands, then the mainland again. Already thinking about what comes next.