Interest swirls for ta moko beach art

An aerial shot of the massive piece of artwork produced by Andrews Amador and designed by Northland ta moko artist Lloyd Morgan. Photos of the artwork have gone viral. PHOTO / JONATHAN CLARK

A spontaneous collaboration between a Northland ta moko artist and an international artist has resulted in stunning piece of beach artwork.

Landscape artist Andres Amador is in the country with a group of filmmakers from San Francisco seeking out beaches which will act as the canvas for Mr Amador's art in documentary called Capturing Impermanence.

COLLABORATION: Northland ta moko artist Lloyd Morgan and international landscape artist Andres Amador work on a massive piece of artwork on Piapia Beach.

Earlier this week the team were scouting locations in the Wainui area when a caregiver at Piapia Beach told him to seek the permission of local elders before working on the beach.

The team sought permission from a man called Sailor Morgan who said yes and told them to see his 22-year-old son, Lloyd, who is a ta moko artist.

"Next thing you know we were around at his house and he was creating the design," said filmmaker Jonathan Clark, who is originally from New Zealand.

Mr Clark used a drone to take an aerial photo of Piapia Beach and printed it out at Lloyds house. Lloyd then started designing on top of the photo.

The next day the design became reality as it was raked on to the beach.

"I really enjoy collaboration when it's possible," said Mr Amador "But when I was trying to find artists to collaborate with in New Zealand, no one came forward."

The artwork took about two hours to create during low tide and while Mr Amador's first collaboration in New Zealand was a spontaneous one, he said it was harmonious and is more than happy with the result.

"Lloyd was really easy going, at first he was a bit circumspect because he didn't quite know what he was getting himself into, which Jonathan tells me is quite Kiwi.

"But once we started doing it he said 'wow this is Primo'."

He said Lloyd's design translated easily on to the sand and he has now been inspired to work with other ta moko artists.

"I had been playing with a similar style for a little while but not with that depth," he said.

The image of the stunning design raked on to Piapia Beach has gone viral. One photo of the design posted on Lloyd's page has had 213 shares, another image has 74 shares and a photo shared by a proud local woman has had 4331 shares.

"I'd have clickbait articles about me go viral but not really anything I have done like this. I'm amazed, we gave that photo to Lloyd to say thank you and right away he loaded it up and it went viral, it's really amazing," said Mr Amador.

Yesterday Mr Amador and the film crew were at Maitai Bay at low tide to create another piece of artwork.

They arrived in New Zealand three weeks ago and they plan to be in Northland for another few days and will be in New Zealand until May.

-To follow their journey and find out where they will be visit https://www.facebook.com/capturingimpermanence/?fref=photo