HATEA LOOP POCKET PARK

We had the honour of collaborating with local artist Mike Tupaea (carvings) on the mural art work for the Hatea Loop pocket park in Whangārei starting 2016 and completed in 2017. A series of visits & planning meetings resulted in a creative narrative that was rich in local stories & significant historical events. Each wall became a story board, an outdoor gallery invitation into the depth of the area known as Whangārei. Thank you to Tracey Moore for co-ordinating such a great project, to mana whenua & Iwi representatives who shared their korero & Whangārei District Council for inviting us to paint in such a beautiful new space.

Kārearea

Information

Whangārei

Nikau trees

Playground

Shark

Warrior details

Birdlife & details

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TE KĀREAREA

One meaning of Whangārei Terenga Parāoa (the gathering place of whales) derives from whales gathering to feed during summer. Symbolically it also designates the gathering place for chiefs. Parāoa (the sperm whale) was highly regarded by Māori, representing persons of chiefly status. Chiefs are Ngāpuhi would meet in Whangarei to mobilise war parties.

Another meaning relates to sisters Reitu & Reipae, from the Waikato region. Both were to marry the chief Ueoneone from the Te Rarawa region the sisters argues. Reipae insisted they land at the beach below them known now as Onerahi after travelling north with a great warrior spoken of as a great Kārearea. Here she waited for her people & her brothers Te Kanapeiterangi & Kairangatira. This event is remembered in the name Whangārei:

"Ko the Tauwhanga a Reipae no on a tungane mo Te Kanapuiterangi raua ko Kairangatira"

"The waiting place of Reipae for her brothers Te Kapanuiterangi & Kairangatira"

The ancient Māori name for the area is Te Ahi Pupurangi a Ihenga, named by Ihenga of Te Arawa descent. Ihenga had traveled to visit his older brothers Taramainuku at Te Kaipara on the Wairoa River and Warenga at Kawakawa. In this place he and his company cooked Kauri snails (Pupurangi) on the fire (ahi). Another meaning signifies a fire being built so that it boiled up, the glow guiding Waka back from fishing expeditions to the location of the new pocket park.

Narrative - Te Parawhau

Clendon Community Mural

With the recent opening of the new Pak n Save in Clendon the community have once again found themselves with new alterations to their ‘Home’.  The Clendon Pride community trust approached Progressive NZ to suggest that the large blank wall left exposed after the old New World building demolition would be a great place for a mural.

After approaching us & getting the go ahead we worked with the WhatHope youth group to wananga about possible ideas & narrative to paint & we came away with key iconic spaces & places.  We designed a contemporary concept that includes the Manurewa Marae, the 2 key Maunga Matukutururu & Matkurureia, the Manukau Harbour & the beautiful bird life.  Subtle designs incorporated into the imagery include the kaiwhare stingray design connecting to the story of Hape & his journey here to the Manukau Harbour & the kaokao strength design acknowledging the resilience of the people of this rohe & the wider Manukau harbour area .  Throughout the design a long rope ties everything together, the butterflies lead the many forward as a picture of progression, connectivity & purpose - all important aspects of community life.  From there we spent a very long and hot day prepping the 5.5m x 45m wall with 5 hard working local youth & over the next 3 weeks painted in between storms & blistering hot days.

On April 14th the official blessing takes place & we get to celebrate together alongside a whanau day & remind the community to be proud of their area.  ‘Home, Land, Sea’ extends our creative journey of finding those special places and displays the beauty of our people & our manu through contemporary design.  Thank you to Progressive for funding this initiative, to the WhatHope youth for your hard work & ideas, to Clendon Pride for the amazing work you are doing & to our babies who put up with us running back & forward to the wall between downpours to get it done.

WHĀNUI-TŪHONO AUCKLAND ARTS FESTIVAL

Whānui-Tūhono for Auckland Arts Festival was a month long multi-generational visual arts collaboration project. We partnered with Upper Harbour Primary School on the north shore of Auckland & designed a project that aimed to tūhono (connect, link & bond) the people of the local community together through creativity. Stories of immigration to Aotearoa & how they arrived to the local area were shared by teachers, parents & a great-grandmother whose passion is rescuing injured birds. Their experiences & journey were then translated into imagery after a series of workshops with the chosen students who took notes & visual cues to create their pieces. Over a series of painting sessions they each painted onto a triangle chosen because of the niho-taniwha design that is a series of those shapes clustered to represent community. Those works were then included into a larger design & became a collaboration work with ourselves including the Tui who features in the surrounding bush. The reveal & ceremony brought community together. Food was shared, creativity celebrated, smiles were big & people were now understood. Our goal was to ensure that the people connected to the Kura in some way would feel that a bond was created & friendships were created. We are sad to see the project end because the students blew us away but we will be visiting. Thank you to the staff, Mr Cowie & Mike the caretaker for having us. To Noma, Angela & Amo from the festival for trusting & supporting us, the work is available to be viewed anytime so pop past when you are around! Thanks for the photos Raymond Sagapolutele 

xxx