Four murals are interpretations of legends

LAST STOP: To round off the Sea Walls Tairawhiti murals project, co-ordinator Kelly Spencer (back right), Napier-based street artist Cinzah (front), Ouizi of Detroit (left) and Wellington graphic artist Sean Duffell completed a series of murals in Tolaga Bay before heading home.

To round off the Sea Walls Tairawhiti murals project, co-ordinator Kelly Spencer, Napier-based street artist Cinzah, Ouizi of Detroit and Wellington graphic artist Sean Duffell completed a series of murals in Tolaga Bay before heading home.

Their four murals are interpretations of legends from the area.

Before beginning work on the murals in the township, the artists visited Hauiti Marae where they were briefed on local history and stories that relate to ocean conservation.

As can be seen in a picture in The Guide, Cinzah’s mural features two albatrosses, spirit guardians Tiungarangi and Harongarangi.

Along with Ruakapanga (also the name of the meeting house at Hauiti) and helper Pourangahua, legend has it the seabirds were responsible for bringing the kumara to New Zealand.

Duffell’s ornate work translates the story of the creation of arts in New Zealand in which sea god Tangaroa’s grandson Ruatepupuke shaped a stone into a fishing lure and later brought back the world’s first known carvings from an underwater village.

The murals can be seen in The Guide.