Te Karaka Area School murals reflect strength and healing after Cyclone Gabrielle

Te Karaka Area School students worked with local artists Merle Walker and Rihari Campbell-Collier to create eight murals representing different aspects of the students, the school, and the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle. Pictured from top left, Wepiha Tuterangiwhaitiri, Raquoi Fox, Levi Brown, Damian Pilitati, Rihari Campbell-Collier. Middle left, Lorraine Davoren, Dawn Jasmine Albert, Hunter Reeves, Kōkā Renae Savage, Ocean-Bleu Franklin Witeri. Front from left, Ranginui Banks, Lachlan Reeves and Merle Walker. Photo / Toi Biz

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The pastel palette of the murals painted by the students of Te Karaka Area School represents the feelings of resilience, strength and pride they have felt since Cyclone Gabrielle hit the township.

Over the last five weeks, local artist Merle Walker, of Toi Biz, has been working with the ākonga (students) at Te Karaka Area School to help develop and produce eight murals that feature on the walls around the school.

In 2023, when Cyclone Gabrielle hit Gisborne, Te Karaka was severely impacted with many homes flooded.

Hundreds were stuck on Cranswick Hill for more than a day waiting for help and the school became the base of operations for the local civil defence teams.

Te Karaka Area School tumuaki (principal) Renae Savage said the mural project was based on the premise of therapy and wellbeing as there were still students living with the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle.

“I feel this project has exceeded its expectations, the ākonga spoke with pride about their murals and the work they did to do this,” Savage said.

Savage said the murals had an impact on all of the school’s students.

“I hope they come back in 10 or 20 years and be able to see these murals and know they were a part of this journey,” she said.

Hunter Reeves, 12, is a year 8 student who was involved with the mural work and enjoyed the experience.

Reeves said the mural represents strength, being proud of who you are and being amazing.

She said the highlights of the experience were learning about how to “trust the process” as an artist, being able to talk about her and others’ stories, and creating relationships with other students while making art.

The eight different murals by students of Te Karaka Area School feature different aspects of the Te Karaka environment, animals representing emotions and other important iconography the students related to.

Walker said the experience was emotional and rewarding in many ways.

The idea originally started with workshops but Walker was asked by Savage if she would consider a mural project.

“It wasn’t just that we were going to paint a mural, it was more about unpacking what was going on inside the students at the time,” Walker said.

“Some of them had been displaced from their whare because of the cyclone, some still dealing with ongoing impacts,” she said.

Local artist Rihari Campbell-Collier helped with the painting and said it had been a privilege to see the students grow as artists.

“The whole thing was about making a connection to the kids and making them feel their stories matter and build confidence in them to share their stories.”

He said the images the ākonga used were great and if they wanted to pursue becoming artists, they could be successful.

Damien Pilitati from Turanga Health said this work was alongside the Mana Ake work that Ngāti Porou Oranga had done, which was focused on post-cyclone work to help enhance the wellbeing of tamariki in schools impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle.

Matai O’Connor, Ngāti Porou, has been a journalist for five years and Kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.