Colenso students’ artwork on show at Te Papa

(From left): Talented teens Leilani Moore, Cris Moetu, Lynette MacGillivray and Michael Rakanui. Photo / Neill Gordon

Four Napier students’ artworks have been selected for an exhibition at Te Papa in Wellington which showcases excellence in secondary school toi Māori and Pacific arts.

The four, Cris Moetu, Michael Rakanui, Leilani Moore and Lynette MacGillivray, all students at William Colenso College, are the only Hawke’s Bay students with work selected for the 2023 Ringa Toi exhibition.

Wiremu Koroneho head of art Laura Jackson said the accolade was a “fair acknowledgement of these students’ fabulous creative talent”.

“The beautiful thing about working with young people is they will always surprise you. They have fresh eyes on the world, and when their vision is allowed to shine, as it has done here in their art, it’s best just to stand out of their way and applaud.”

Cris Moetu said he had been captivated by photographing water, specifically its shine and texture, “for ages”.

One of his two photographs accepted for Ringa Toi is of the ocean at Waimarama, and the other, titled After the Cyclone, is of a leaf in a Tamatea gutter following Cyclone Gabrielle.

Moetu is modest when asked about the beauty of his art. “I’m just doing my thing,” he said.

Lynette MacGillivray, who also had photographs accepted for Ringa Toi last year, has three pieces in this year’s show.

As with last year, her subject is hāngī, though this year she has zoomed in to focus on details such as steam and sacks.

MacGillivray attended the exhibition opening in Wellington and said “it made me realise how happy we should be that we got in”.

Leilani Moore also has a photograph in the show, and Michael Rakanui had a tapa cloth design accepted.

More than 150 artworks from ākonga across Aotearoa were selected for Ringa Toi this year and are on display in Te Papa’s stunning fourth-floor Rongomaraeroa Marae, which was created by the late master carver Cliff Whiting.

Visitors can view the exhibition between 10am and 6pm daily until Friday, September 29.

Ringa Toi entries are open to all secondary school and wharekura students working towards achieving NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) Levels 1-3, with a focus on toi Māori and Pacific artworks at Excellence level.

The exhibition, run by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority, includes a range of Māori art forms in seven categories: toi wharepora (contemporary and traditional weaving), toi whakairo (carving), toi matihiko (digital print where the reproduction processes have been completed by computer), toi matatuhi (printmaking), toi waituhi (paint, ink, and drawing), toi matarau (shaping and fashioning) and toi whakaahua (photography with no digital manipulation).

For more info, go to: https://www2.nzqa.govt.nz/about-us/ringa-toi/.