A colourful mural representing a safe passage into the future and personal journey now fills a wall of a park which will connect Whangarei's Hatea Loop to Port Rd.
Mike Tupaea, who has a fine arts background but has recently been creating murals, and renowned Auckland graffiti artist Charles Williams have put their creative minds together again to create a vibrant mural on the walls of a park which will connect the Hatea Loop to Port Rd. It comes after the pair collaborated on a mural at the Otaika Shops last year.
Mr Tupaea said the focus of the park was around rangatahi (youth) and that formed the basis of what the mural would look like.
"This particular mural is about inspiring rangatahi. One of the korero around the Whangarei Harbour was that they used to light these big fires to illuminate the sky so if you were out fishing you would have a safe passage back into the harbour.
"The patiki patterns are to symbolise a safe passage into your future and the kowhaiwhai design is a mangopare which represents perseverance and strength. It's about your personal journey," he said.
The artwork depicts a karearea (falcon) which was the only bird with a connection to fire as its tail would catch fire, Mr Tupaea said. The bird is surrounded by plywood cut outs of patiki patterns and kowhaiwhai design.
"We worked together, we gathered the korero, we interviewed a few different people and we went with our guidance," Mr Tupaea said.
Mr Tupaea said the Whangarei District Council, who commissioned the artists, gave the pair the right to do some investigation into the history of Whangarei. He said Manaaki Waipouri and Tash Nikora also helped create the mural.
Mr Tupaea said they used a quick-drying acrylic paint for the artwork which was completed on Friday.
"We started Sunday but it's been roughly five days from 9am to 9pm. That's longer than your average work day," he said.
The wall which runs parallel to the mural will also be painted, creating a tunnel of art. Mr Tupaea said he and Mr Williams would be creating a mural in July based on the history of hapu Te Parawhau.
Mr Tupaea said he was pleased to see murals brightening up Whangarei.
"I think murals change the atmosphere of the place. I think we're catching up to what the rest of the world's doing. There are whole cities that are painted that have the highest rate of this, and the highest rate of that, and murals have changed those spaces."