Toi Ngapuhi Exhibition to Showcase Innovative Artforms

24 January 2018

Toi Ngapuhi Exhibition to Showcase Innovative Artforms

Tā moko and world record holding urban mural artists will work live on their craft at the upcoming Toi Ngāpuhi Premier Iwi Art Exhibition.

New Zealand’s leading exhibition in its category, Toi Ngāpuhi, features the best of Māori and Ngāpuhi traditional and contemporary arts and artists. Having built considerable momentum, it is this year, achieving a record level of participation from over 80 emerging, mid-career and well-known artists.

Whangarei based artist Mike Tupaea will team up with high profile urban art specialists Charles and Janine Williams to produce an outdoor mural collaboration. This in-sync team previously completed a large scale outdoor mural for the community of Otaika and has a long standing history. Mike, former Elam fine arts student and Maori visual arts graduate, is a diverse practitioner who has an extensive body of work including numerous outdoor murals. One of Charles’ personal accolades includes winning the 2015 World Ono'u Graffiti Festival in Tahiti. Janine is one of Aotearoa’s first female urban artists. She has spent the past 15 years painting and developing community art activations and projects with a strong focus on youth interaction and community engagement.

The team has a powerful kaupapa and theme that underpins their work. Mike says “a mural can change a space and if you have got the right kaupapa and if you have people buying into it and they believe what the kaupapa is about then it can be a very powerful thing for a community”.

The mural project will be located at the entrance to Toll Stadium and will be worked on from Thursday 25 January through to festival day. The team encourages people to visit and view the work in progress and also have a chat. The completed artwork will be gifted to a community that has a need for it.

Skilled Tā moko artists Anikaaro Moloka’i Harawira-Havili, Earnest Bradley and Victor Te Paa are excited to demonstrate their genre at this year’s Toi Ngāpuhi Exhibition.

“As a unique point of difference Tai Tokerau Maori Arts Collective are committed to following a pattern set by Te Atinga (a movement from Māori Arts New Zealand) to promote different platforms of expression. The inclusion of three tā moko artists working at their craft on the day is an intrinsic part of our response.” Says Collective member and exhibition spokesperson BJ Natanahira.

Local tā moko artist Victor Te Paa is “…stoked to be part of the whole festival and to represent Ngapuhi and work alongside the other artists in the show…it will be amazing to have the opportunity share our culture with everyone else.”

Tā moko artists will be working all day at festival (Saturday 27 January). To ensure the team is easily accessible for people wanting to talk to them and view their work, they will be based in the ARC Security Lounge adjacent to the main exhibition.

They will be taking bookings on the day but encourage people to make pre-bookings to guarantee their spot. Artists can be contacted via their Facebook or Instagram profiles.

Toi Ngāpuhi is part of the wider Ngāpuhi Festival and is entry is free. The exhibition is open to the public from Thursday 25 January through to Sunday 28 January 2018.

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