BACK IN 2018 when we started....
BREAKING NEWS - OUR COLLECTIVE WON THE WHANGANUI REGIONAL PRIZE
THIS IS A CONCEPTUAL SKETCH ONLY - FINAL COLLABORATIVE DESIGN STILL TO COME.
The concept of this mural aspires to a better relationship with the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River) and its ecosystems. The subject of clean rivers is hot topic in 2018 combined with the recent legal status of Te Awa Tupua now recognised as having legal personhood. The idea for this mural was born in collaboration with Ned Tapa of Tupoho. We have met with local Iwi elder John Maihi who has advised on the concept, this dialogue will continue as the project develops.
The importance of collaboration for the project will be working with other local and Maori artists and Iwi because of its locality, its scale and its subject. Collaborators to date include Cecelia Kumeroa, Hemi Kiwikiwi, Bayley Kauika, Mina Bourke, Naani Waitai, Tanea Ngapeka, Dan Mills, Sonia Sunshine, and John Currin, with support persons Rere Sutherland, Rena Star and Lee Williams along with myself Jacqueline Brand-Holt co-ordinating.
Pākaitore is ‘the place of shared kai’ this is a proposal to paint the associated fish life of this place; Inanga, Tuna, Piharau, Flounder, Bully and other fish through their spawning and whitebait/glass eel stages. The ecology of the Te Awa Tupua is about keeping things in balance both from land slips and the loss of spawning habitat, there needs to be more planting along the river banks that grows into the water creating sanctuary for the spawn.
Toward the shallows on the left are globes of floating spawn, then toward the middle a cross hatch or whaariki (weaving) of the white bait and glass eels, and into the deep waters of the right end of the wall are the moving schools and shimmering of the grown Inanga and Tuna. Possibly including a few Kahawai which sometimes venture up river from the sea mouth. The important element is the bush above as this will slowly grow and cascade over the mural- it is representative of itself as the plants that need to be planted beside the river to support the fish spawn.
Dan Mills
Naani Waitai
Hemi Kiwikiwi
Tanea NgaPeka
Mina Bourke
Bayley Kauika
Talula Hodder
Eli Lamont
The importance of collaboration for the project will be working with other local and Maori artists and Iwi because of its locality, its scale and its subject. Collaborators to date include Cecelia Kumeroa, Hemi Kiwikiwi, Bayley Kauika, Mina Bourke, Naani Waitai, Tanea Ngapeka, Dan Mills, Sonia Sunshine, and John Currin, with support persons Rere Sutherland, Rena Star and Lee Williams along with myself Jacqueline Brand-Holt co-ordinating.
Pākaitore is ‘the place of shared kai’ this is a proposal to paint the associated fish life of this place; Inanga, Tuna, Piharau, Flounder, Bully and other fish through their spawning and whitebait/glass eel stages. The ecology of the Te Awa Tupua is about keeping things in balance both from land slips and the loss of spawning habitat, there needs to be more planting along the river banks that grows into the water creating sanctuary for the spawn.
Toward the shallows on the left are globes of floating spawn, then toward the middle a cross hatch or whaariki (weaving) of the white bait and glass eels, and into the deep waters of the right end of the wall are the moving schools and shimmering of the grown Inanga and Tuna. Possibly including a few Kahawai which sometimes venture up river from the sea mouth. The important element is the bush above as this will slowly grow and cascade over the mural- it is representative of itself as the plants that need to be planted beside the river to support the fish spawn.
Dan Mills
Naani Waitai
Hemi Kiwikiwi
Tanea NgaPeka
Mina Bourke
Bayley Kauika
Talula Hodder
Eli Lamont
Left to right: Mina Bourke, Talula Hodder, Eli Lamont, Dan Mills, Naani Waitai, Lee Wiliams, Jacqueline Brand-Holt (Absent: Tanea Ngapeka, Hemi Kiwikiwi, Bailey Kauika)
