Pātaka o Sir Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa and the refurbished Sarjeant Gallery opens today. Photo / Michael McKeagg
The redeveloped Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery opens its doors today along with its new extension wing Pātaka o Sir Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa.
But it’s not just a new era for the Sarjeant. The project represents a new era for Whanganui, writes Zaryd Wilson.
Andrew Clifford remembers watching plans for the Sarjeant Gallery redevelopment from afar and being “a little envious”.
Back then he was at the helm of the newly opened Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery, a project that he says breathed new life into West Auckland.
He sees something similar happening in Whanganui with the $70 million project opening this weekend.
“It’s going to really accelerate that rebirth or renaissance that Whanganui’s had,” Clifford said.
“It’s a bit symbiotic, the city’s evolving and the gallery’s evolving with it. But the evolution of the gallery is shaping how the city’s evolving too.
“It will ripple out in a lot of ways. Hopefully in cultural ways, it will give us a real sense of self. But in other aspects too, like commercially, what this will do for tourism.”
Clifford joined the Sarjeant about 18 months ago, taking over from Greg Anderson, who led the gallery through the redevelopment to that point.
He said it was like landing “in the middle of the race and you’ve just got to start running”.
“But yes, I remember watching and seeing that co-design aspect of the building announced. That was very interesting to see from afar.
“And I might have even been a little envious at that point ... having no idea that, when it came to opening, I’d be at the desk.”
Clifford said the co-design had become a “really defining part of the redevelopment”.
It involved Te Kāhui Toi o Tūpoho, a group of Tūpoho-appointed artists working alongside architects Warren and Mahoney to design the pātaka – the extension to sit alongside and connected to the refurbished heritage building.
“It’s seen it evolve and update itself with the times much more so than if we just built what was designed in 1998, which would have been a beautiful building but this is something really interesting and unique,” Clifford said.
“Bringing those local stories that iwi know better than anyone into the building itself means the building is a much stronger expression of where we are and who we are and it’s made it a much more powerful symbol for Whanganui.”
The cultural lead for Te Kāhui Toi o Tūpoho was Cecelia Kumeroa, who said the Sarjeant was a “very early example of a project that is co-designed”.
The group had early guidance from sculptor Rangi Kipa, who has whakapapa to Whanganui and was the cultural design lead on the award-winning New Plymouth airport project.
Kumeroa said the process involved working directly with the architects rather than in an advisory role, “which led to more dynamic ideas”, particularly when it came to the cladding of the pātaka.
“You can have the most amazing korero but it’s the artists that have to think of how to manifest that, alongside the expertise of the architects,” she said.
“We have never built a gallery before in our iwi but, being a site of significance for us, it was really important we get it right.”
Kumeroa said it was important that Whanganui iwi stories were visible on the city’s landscape.
“[Whanganui’s] got beautiful heritage buildings, they’re absolutely great, they’re stunning. We’ve got amazing pieces of architecture everywhere.
“[But] those don’t speak aesthetically about us. To have a point of difference within your own civic spaces is important. You have to see yourself reflected in these spaces.
“It’s important for our next generation’s mokopuna coming through to feel like they belong in these spaces.”
She said the contrast between the Sarjeant’s heritage building and the new pātaka was a strong statement.
“It’s always in flux and moving like our awa.
“Hopefully our people are proud to see these buildings.”
Kumeroa acknowledged the stand iwi took at Pākaitore in 1995 and the Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017, which forged the path for co-design.
“Our iwi leaders and people in that space have provided the platform for us to have the mana to allow us to negotiate in this space.
“Without them providing the political pressure – through the years too – to create and maintain the mana of Whanganui as an iwi, I don’t think we would have had the opportunity to have co-design.”
Kumeora hoped the Sarjeant project would show “we can have the best of both worlds”.
“You can have a timeless river with its own legal identity. And you can have your beautiful heritage buildings and amazing vintage festivals and stuff – and then you can have a contemporary, new, cool gallery with contemporary art.
“And have the community come in and feel more comfortable coming into the gallery. In particular, our iwi. We want them to feel at home here on our whenua at Pukenamu.”
The inclusion of Sir Archie Taiaroa’s name on the pātaka was important to iwi, she said.
“His gift for the river is really important and our iwi leadership wanted that acknowledged.”
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said this weekend was about a vision becoming reality.
“It just shows that, if you’ve got something significant, it takes time. But it also takes a belief and it takes, in this case, true collaboration [between iwi, council, the Sarjeant Gallery Trust and central government] to work.”
Tripe said the gallery would help embed Whanganui’s modern identity.
“We’ve matured to a point where we are much clearer about who we are and we’re clearer about our identity and what we stand for.
“The points of difference for Whanganui are the awa, the arts and creative sector and heritage.
“The Sarjeant Gallery brings all of those three together.”
While the project faced multiple cost blowouts throughout construction, Tripe believed the gallery would have an economic payoff as well as a social one.
“That cannot be discounted. The reality is we know that people will come here that haven’t been here before.
“Typically they come with a fatter wallet and what it does is help to stimulate an economy.”
But the value of paying for a social benefit was important.
“There wouldn’t be a livable city in the world that doesn’t have an art gallery, a library and museum. Those that don’t have them are often emptier, shallower towns.”
It’s a reason Sarjeant Gallery Trust chairwoman Nicola Williams said there was an appetite to support the project from private donors.
She led the fundraising charge to match the Government’s initial $10m commitment.
“They could see the social value and the economic drivers.”
She said there had been multiple changes in local and central government – and staffing at the gallery – during the redevelopment and she would be thinking about all of those involved, including former Sarjeant director Bill Milbank, who died in 2023.
“I think I’m going to find it quite emotional on Saturday to think of all the people who gave generously, who are no longer with us.
“I’m sure they’ll be swirling around somewhere. It’s almost overwhelming to think of the magnitude of support.”
Influential people across the country lobbied for the project, she said.
“It was in a very competitive environment.
“The donors had to be confident that the council was going to support the project. They had to be confident the Government funding would come.”
Williams said it was comforting to know the generosity of Henry Sarjeant – who gave the bequest for the original gallery – continued.
“I hope that it will give a real lift to community pride and I also hope that it will create prosperity for the people living here – and joy – that’s what arts can do.
“It’s adding to, it’s not taking away.”
Meanwhile, Clifford hoped the Sarjeant would connect with as much of the community as possible – and win over any critics.
“I’d be surprised if we don’t.
“I mean the hardcore, it might take a while to come up and have a nosey when they eventually get curious enough to get over whatever their preconceptions are but I think a lot who are just on the fence or just don’t know will be enticed by a big month of events.
“We’re opening with an exhibition that is a very powerful statement of who we are here.”
And then work will begin on what comes next.
“So that we’re not a novelty, that we’re here for a long time.”
Zaryd Wilson is the editor of the Whanganui Chronicle and has been a journalist covering the lower North Island for 13 years. He joined the Whanganui Chronicle as a reporter in 2014 and has been editor since 2021.
One survivor was plucked from the water as rescue crews recovered two bodies.