ART TO INSPIRE

Under the arch of the past: From left, Colleen Hawkins, Romia Whaanga and artist Matt Randall gather at the Tairāwhiti Museum to celebrate Randall's work. Picture by Dudley Meadows

Down at The Cut, next to the mouth of the Waikanae Stream (Te Wai o Hihārore) lies bare where the sculpture, titled Hawaiki Turanga, is meant to stand today.

The project has been beset by issues below the ground where Watties, the iconic Kiwi cannery and food processing company, had a plant on the wider site from 1952 to 1997.

Soil at the site was found to be contaminated with asbestos and hydrocarbons, but progress has been made, albeit of a miniature magnitude.

A 1:6 scale model of the sculpture, created by artist Matthew Randall, has been installed at the entrance of Tairāwhiti Museum, a small yet important step.

The vision to have it installed at the museum became realised following the in-house exhibition, Te Hau Tahito, where it was exhibited for the first time from July to September last year.

A small gathering was held at the museum last month to acknowledge the installation and the wider plans for the main artwork.

Following an accord made in 1998 in partnership with Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa and the Gisborne District Council, and after going through a selection process and much consultation with local iwi and GDC, the full-scale work commenced in 2014 and was completed in 2018. Since then the work has been in storage at the artist's expense.

Randall whakapapa's to Turanga iwi and, along with many helping hands, created the public artwork to educate, inform and inspire.

He thanked all those who helped over the years and Tairāwhiti Museum for covering the costs of the model's installation.

Although a positive step, he said it was still bittersweet.

“A lot of people have supported this over the years and so many have passed on now so it is quite sad to think that they will never get to see it installed on-site.”

“This sculpture is about our pre-European history, our occupation and navigational history and acknowledges our local paramount tipuna, waka and art forms,”

The sculpture draws on the fact local iwi are mana whenua, mana moana and mana tangata Hawaiki ki Turanga — they are people of this land, ocean, their ancestors and come from the ancestral and spiritual homeland of Hawaiki.

“The ancestors who have been selected are inclusive of all of our iwi and hapu within our rohe. They have become renowned as the progenitors for those iwi and hapu,” Randall said.

The work is highly important for Turanga iwi as it tells the story of their ancestors who arrived in the area and connects their past with today. These ancestors also share connections to other rohe.

However, since no decision has been made on the contaminated land, it stands bare apart from wire fencing.

Finding a fix to the issues has been slow, Randall said, but Rongowhakaata Iwi Trust and Te Runanga o Turanganui a Kiwa have done a lot of work finding an innovative solution.

Regardless of the hold up, the installation of the scale model at the museum was a great step in the right direction, Randall said.

It would be a fantastic place for tamariki, tangata whenua and anyone else interested to learn more about the region.

The shared stories can be used as history lessons for students. Rather than just reading off the pages of a book, students will be able to see the characters with their own eyes in the arch and pou of Hawaiki Turanga, Randall said.

“It can serve as a mnemonic device so people who want to learn can actually see the stories with their own eyes rather than just learn about these figures in the classroom.

“A big part of the vision is that it is not just an artwork. It is something that people can engage with, in particular our school groups.

“This is a powerful thing when you are stimulated by the visual and the oratory at the same time.”

Randall said the design was influenced by what takes place on a marae, with stories and history being told with sculptures of ancestors to look at for reference.

“We acknowledge our tīpuna carved into our whare and that all helps unpack our korero in terms of who we are.

“Being an open space like it is, it was always envisioned that people would be able to korero among whānau and school groups of all ethnicities and all age groups. That is a big part of the overall aspiration.”

Randall began his training in toi Māori (Māori arts) at EIT Tairāwhiti's Toihoukura and Te Wananga O Aotearoa's Toimairangi School of Maori Visual Art & Design.

Prior to this, he had gained a qualification as a trade-qualified engineer.

But now Randall says much of his education comes from the environment.

“When you look at our traditional art forms they all stem from nature. By going to the ngahere (bush) or the moana (ocean), to me that's like going to university. It's all there, you just have to tap into it.

“I'm always training as an artist wherever I am, whether it is at an institute or whether I'm out for a dive in the moana or whether I'm in the ngahere.

“It's all inspirational stuff that teaches me what I need to know to connect with my tipuna and the art forms that my ancestors used.”