Kayla Christensen won the Aotearoa section at the 2024 World of WearableArt competition with his creation called Kārearea. Photo / Andi Crown
Kayla Christensen won the Aotearoa section at the 2024 World of WearableArt competition with his creation called Kārearea. Photo / Andi Crown
Kayla Christensen’s award-winning entry in this year’s World of WearableArt (WOW) competition was inspired by the history of tapestry and her grandfather’s fighter pilot role in World War II.
Her entry, Kārearea, featured three models side by side to create a large triptych tapestry mural, all hand-painted and handstitched together.
It was awarded first place in the Aotearoa section of the prestigious competition, delighting Christensen.
“I was so happy it felt like an out-of-body experience especially walking up on stage to receive my trophy from one of the judges, James Dobson.
Kayla Christensen, pictured next to judge James Dobson, is in disbelief after winning the Aotearoa section of the 2024 World of WearableArt competition. Photo / Andi Crown
Christensen said she was inspired by the history of tapestry “especially from the medieval and renaissance period where they created large tapestries depicting heritage that adorned the walls of the grandest buildings”.
“From there sparked an idea to design a large-scale painting of my family heritage and our connection to our native flora and fauna here in New Zealand.
“It was also heavily inspired by my grandfather Harold Christensen who was a fighter pilot in World War II.
“You can see the models are wearing pilot harnesses, jumpsuits and pilot hats, with the main motif of the native kārearea bird which represents speed and flight.
“I have also painted his medals and also my great-grandfather’s war medals.”
The models of Kayla Christensen's creation thank the crowd. Photo / Andi Crown
She started by drawing what she had imagined and then undertook many concept designs and construction methods to determine how to create the piece.
“I finalised a design and started to draw out my images and painted them little by little. I then pieced it all together with many hand stitches.”
She said the main challenge was time and working around being a mother to a 2-year-old daughter.
“I gave myself a strict routine over a period of a few months and fully committed to finishing my entry.
“This routine helped me slowly chip away at painting my mammoth idea of creating a large painted tapestry adorned across three models.
“It’s truly amazing what you can achieve even if you only manage to paint a few brush strokes or hand stitches each night.”
It was her ninth finalist piece in the competition over 15 years.
Kayla Christensen's interest in wearable art started at Paraparaumu College.
“My last few entries received awards such as my creation Waka Huia, in 2019, which won the Dame Suzie Moncrieff award and third place in the Aotearoa section.
“Also, in the same section, was Ancient Dreamscape, in 2018, which was second place, and Kuini, in 2017, third place.”
Christensen’s interest in wearable art started at Paraparaumu College when she entered the college’s wearable art competition with her friend Renee Louie.
“We won the show and our prize was tickets to go see the WOW show in Wellington.
“From that point, we knew we wanted to enter and had our first creation accepted into the WOW show the following year while we were still in college.”
Christensen, 32, who studied a Bachelor of Design majoring in fashion at Massey University, said her goal was to “keep being creative, imaginative and to keep pushing boundaries to what I can create, especially through wearable art and my passion for painting”.
