November 2018
I was approached by Probation Services Hawkes Bay and asked if I would consider working in conjunction with them and Hastings City Council, to design a wall for a White Ribbon event speaking out on the subject of Family Harm. BRIEF
To create a piece of art in a public space that brings attention to the issues surrounding family harm. A piece that drives discussion and inspires a sense of community healing.
White Ribbon has been a champion of this event for many years, working tirelessly within the community to support those battling to free themselves from the generational cycles of harm happening within our communities. Art has always had an amazing power of interacting with the public on these hard hitting topics and aid in bringing more awareness. We are therefore proud to partner with Hawkes Bay Probation Services in working towards this goal.
The proposed work will represent a diverse variety of cultures and ages, it will depict both genders. Engaged in family life with an uplifting, positive aesthetic. The aim being to make it a representational depiction of the fact that this issue effects us all, no matter background, race, age or gender. It speaks also to the solutions for the problem being found within community support and unity. To do this we will select traditional patterns from India, Japan, Fiji, NZ Maori and English/ European cultures to be used as back ground stencils for each of the six panels. In the foreground a series of human silhouettes painted in black will fill each panel. The far left panel will be filled with the white ribbon logo which will clearly tie the imagery into context.
OBJECTIVES
- Create “mock ups” accompanied by contextual research for Hastings District Council
- Meet deadline of 7th November 2018 - Carry out appropriate research to support work
- Present Hastings council with a wall concept to be used in conjunction with the 2019 “White Ribbon” event to engage community action
- Document creative progress
- Use art work to critically engage the public in the conversations around Family harm
- Invite community groups to participate in painting of the mural and lead a mentorship program
- Enable sense of pride in the community
- Aid it beautifying more of Hawkes Bay in association with the district Councils
- Welcome, in conjunction with Hawkes Bay Probation Services and Hastings City Council, an opportunity to host a community event to utilise the art at end of painting RESEARCH When approaching this piece and the respective Kaupapa behind it, it was greatly discussed how to go about making the piece as multicultural as possible. Family harm is something that reaches far and wide in the community, it doesn’t discriminate against race, status, religion or up bringing, like addiction, its everywhere and effecting our communities on a massive scale. By examining cultural patterns and the deeper meanings behind them, it is the aim of the art work to speak to this multiculturalism. The use of patterns that were used in clothing, responded well to that joint community understanding and feeling of family
Cheery and Plum Blossom
These delicate blossoms are revered within Japanese culture as they represent fierce determination. Blooming brightly in the harshest winters. these bright bursts of life. Exuding an ethereal elegance, with their subtly fragrance pervade the air at even the coldest times of the year.
Therefore, the plum blossom came to symbolize perseverance and hope, as well as beauty, purity, and the transitiveness of life.
In Confucianism, the plum blossom stands for the principles and values of virtue. More recently, it has also been used as a metaphor to symbolise revolutionary struggle since the turn of the 20th century.
Poutama
1. (noun) stepped pattern of tukutuku panels and woven mats - symbolizing genealogies and also the various levels of learning and intellectual achievement. Some say they represent the steps which Tāne-o-te-wānanga ascended to the topmost realm in his quest for superior knowledge and religion. When looking at cultural Maori designs we wanted to treat the imagery very carefully as not to step on any lines of cultural appropriation. After consulting with a Cultural advisor (Raewyn Paterson- EIT), we felt the Poutma pattern spoke to the message of the intended wall, as well as giving the cultural public a sense of deeper connection to the piece. The pattern needing to speak to all Iwi, no matter their region of origin. The pattern its self speaks well to the push for individuals to rise up from these generational cycles of Family harm in our community. To feel the mana of their forefathers and challenges the view to step up, to find strength and strive to better ones self for the tamariki of the future.
Lotus
Prevalent through Indian culture, the lotus is a symbol of great inspiration amongst the many spiritual practices of its homeland. In Hinduism it became a symbol of purity and determination, as also in Jainism and Buddhism.
Its flowers grow in long stalks, rising high above the water, while its roots remain in the mud. Its stalk traverses the entire depth of the waters on which it rests its leaves, its flowers open to the light of the heaven, the lotus belongs to this world and to those above and below, to light, earth and water.
This singular property of the lotus makes it a transition symbol, encompassing a connection to our ancestors, ourselves and those yet to come, as well as the connection to the earth itself. The fact that drops of water, roll off a lotus, like water off a ducks back, gives this unsoiled flower an added symbolic meaning, it becomes a simile for strength and calm resilience.
Zhaba
This pattern is prevalent through many European cultures. Appearing on Slavic dress, English tapestry and Greek and Roman tiling.
The triangles, whose tips touch each other, summoning a nod to the hourglass, symbolizing the World and pressing time. The meeting/touching point symbolizes the place of transition from one world to another, from one action to the next. Sometimes, there appears a line between the triangles, this is called the “Ring of Great Light”, which symbolizes a mirror where one world is reflected in another and vice versa. It is a call to transition our action before time runs out, to look at our reflections and the impact those ripples have on the world.
Masi
Traditional Fijian pattern work, normally displayed on beautiful natural fiber. The process of making these extraordinary pieces of art were a joint communal exercise with everyone in the tribe or family unit contributing. The intrinsic unity of the collective stamped onto its surface, normally with patterns representing both family values as well as a respect for the earth. These patterns were the visual story tellers for the people creating them, expressing their values and bond. It was all about community and family support for one another. A value some times lost in this dark world, especially with family harm issues. We turn a blind eye and damn people for their actions instead of joining together to heal with love and find solutions. The Masi pattern speaks to this need for re-engagement from the community
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT Spending a day scouting walls with probation Services around the streets of Hastings, we really wanted to find placement that was really going to hit home the Kaupapa as well as work to beautify the city further. With this in mind, three locations were considered as good options.
-Plunket Building 207 Avenue Road East, Hastings With both a relatively good wall size and use of the building itself being ideal for the message of the wall, it is interrupted by a large central window and has a small business facing the wall that would need consent to imagery
- Back of “The Lighthouse” building 236 Heretaunga Street East While a huge and beautifully surfaced wall, it is slightly secluded down an open alley way. This would be an idea and easily manageable area for Probation services to run a community based program while the wall is underway. Being placed behind a Peer support run recovery group, it also speaks well to the Kaupapa. However, its pit falls are that it is privately owned, so consent would be needed, as well as being slightly hidden from public view. This I believe opposes the message of the wall in regards to opening the conversations and bringing the topic into the light. - Wall opposite Hastings District Court House 101 Eastbourne Street West This is our premium desired location for this wall and is the location we have based for the initial mock ups of this design. It is our belief that there is no more appropriate place for this art work to be placed where it is having a direct conversation with the people affected by this issue, with the court house sitting opposite and police station soon to be constructed on the opposing corner. By utilising silhouettes, the intention of the design was one of love and unity within family units. To make the characters feel free of ethnic identifiers so that it would resonate with a wider audience. With a very “on trend” turquoise pallet, the piece needed to provide the council with a wall that was both contemporary and would age well in the coming years. Especially with this particular walls placement. It is the greeting into the city for a lot of visitors entering from the West (another reason we wanted to make is feel warm and embracing) and sets the tone for the community as a whole. Keeping this minimal colour pallet also allows for costs to be kept down and easy maintenance to be carried out by council workers in the future.
