'Hauhake' - Rain art installation
After a few weeks of designing & a full day of installation, 'Hauhake' or 'harvest' is a temporary art installation situated outside the Britomart train station at the bottom of Queen Street, Auckland. Using a special water proofing spray and a stencil, the art work is invisible until it is revealed with water – or rain, which is perfect for Auckland in mid-winter.
Janine’s Ngati Paoa heritage has played a big part in the inspiration for the art work. The Auckland iwi, which is co-hosting this year’s Matariki Festival with Auckland Council, were known for their great fleet of waka and the abundance of crops they traded in Tāmaki Makaura. Janine’s Great Great Grandfather William Castle was set up by Rangatira to help manage trading for the Iwi from the 1850s until 1867 & later married the ancestress Parewheururangi Taumore.
The design for Hauhake consists of silhouette images of the Ngāti Paoa waka, Kōtuiti. The pattern they form represents the lines of crops of a field, a reminder of the vast plantations of produce that were grown & traded here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Those goods came by waka from the trading post built next to the family cottage in Waitawa Bay & arrived here under our feet where the original coastal shoreline was but is now reclaimed land. They are arranged to symbolise the the natural movement from the waves of the ocean & the rhythm that would have been created through the paddling of the waka. The direction of the rows change back & forward twice, a reminder of the constant trading that took place all of those years ago & the journeys across the Hauraki.
The application of water, to reveal the art work, represents the rain that waters the crops, but also the Hauraki Gulf & what is known as Tikapa Moana. Walking through the garden rows, we walk together as a multi-generational roopu like the years gone by where the stories of Matariki & the rich knowledge would have been passed down to future generations through experience & times of celebration together.
Hauhake tells a beautiful, deeply personal story, brought to life in the middle of Queen St.
