Two carved panels which made up part of the old City Focus have found a new home at Rotorua Airport. Photo/File
Two carved panels which made up part of the old City Focus have found a new home at Rotorua Airport. Photo/File
Two carved panels which made up part of the old City Focus have found a new home at Rotorua Airport.
The colourful carvings, which tell the story of Te Arawa waka captain Tamatekapua and his whanau and ancestors, were removed from their former location in the City Focus aspart of the refresh of the inner city.
According to the Rotorua Lakes Council website, after consultation with the artists who created them, Manahi Skerrett and Erin Tioke and local iwi, it was decided to relocate them to the airport.
Matata-based artist Erin Tioke said he was very pleased the carvings, which will be visible from Te Ngae Rd, were being displayed again.
"We came for a drive to Rotorua before the panels were installed and saw where the carvings were going to go. It's awesome that they are right next to the main road where everyone will see them."
The panels old home in the City Focus.
Rotorua Airport chief executive Nicole Brewer said the airport welcomed the opportunity to have the sculptures on site.
"These sculptures are an iconic piece of artwork for the Rotorua community and the stories that these carvings depict directly relate to the airport's corner of the lake with Mokoia Island in our sights.
"We are a community airport so it's only fitting that these sculptures are erected on-site," she said.
The carvings were installed when the City Focus was constructed in 1994 but were taken down as a part of the Inner City Revitalisation work to upgrade the inner city.
The panels represent the ancestors and descendants of Tamatekapua.
One panel tells the stories of Tamatekapua's grandson Ihenga and his discovery of Mokoia Island and Mt Ngongotaha.
The other represents the lineage of Tamatekapua and the journey taken by his people from Hawaiki.
Meanwhile the carvings of Hinemoa and Tutanekai, which stood adjacent to the Tamatekapua panels, facing out to Mokoia Island, have been undergoing restoration work and will be returned to the heart of the city when finished.
