Tamatea High School celebrates Pasifika links with mural

Pictured with Year 11 Tamatea High School students and their new mural are (from left) Louise Cuthbert, Rev. Leo Te Kira, Dena Bach, Alamein Burns and Matua Robin Fabish.

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Pictured with Year 11 Tamatea High School students and their new mural are (from left) Louise Cuthbert, Rev. Leo Te Kira, Dena Bach, Alamein Burns and Matua Robin Fabish.

Tamatea High School students were proud to be part of the blessing performed by Reverend Leo Te Kira as the school unveiled its latest mural celebrating the migratory link between Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, says principal Robin Fabish.

Robin says the school was lucky to have the support from artist and newly appointed Te Aute College art teacher Dena Bach. Other contributors to the mural's creation included Mika and Kaiata Kaitao, Dena's family members and Matua Robin.

"A few years back Dena had visited the school and offered to create a mural. I really wanted something that our Pasifika students could look at and see themselves represented.

"We know that the Ngāti Kahungunu waka, Tākitimu, was originally called Tarai Pō and was built in Samoa. There is a strong whakapapa connection between our Polynesian peoples and it's important to recognise that."

The mural depicts a Pasifika person playing the conch (called a pū in the Cook Islands and a pūtātara in Māori) and the Māori woman is responding with her pūtorino.

The sound waves reverberate across Te Moana-nui-ā-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean. Images include the turtle, frangipani flower, birds, fish and sailing waka which honour the traditions of the Islands and Aotearoa.

"School members are all really thrilled with the message of inclusion, identity and the importance of ancestry that the mural reminds us of at Tamatea High.

"We want to continue in the tradition of former students and art teacher Graham Lister who in the past created murals for the school – some of which still adorn the school walls."