Children's Drawings part of Whakapapa Mural
I was invited back to Upper Hutt School to create another mural to sit beside the one I completed last year. This mural was created with a different group of students who were year 5 and 6. The brief I was given was the theme of ancestry / whakapapa - human connection & relationships - tying in with the schools whakatauki for the year:
“He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata! “What is the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.””
The students and I did some drawings and brainstorming around things that make our whakapapa unique and that we are proud of. We came up with the idea of getting some drawings from all the students in the school and using them in the mural. We received around 350 wonderful drawings of food, places, sports and most importantly people. This showed me how proud they all are of their whanau and who they are.
The mural group and I then explored the whakatauki - what does it mean? How can we illustrate it? What are some of the words we can think of around this: Trust, bond, friendship, support, love PRIDE
This pride sets us up to confidently go out into the world and chase our dreams. Our whakapapa support us and guide us through the journey of life, like a big net of hands there to help when needed. Lifting us up and catching us when we fall.
We used a maori poutama pattern in the background which symbolises growith and learning. Layered ontop of this pattern are the students drawings we collected. This took so long to paint but was worth every hour as all the children at the school proudly locate and share their drawing with their families and friends. At the bottom of the hands we weaved some patterns to share the wide array of cultures in the school community. You will see Chinese, Filipino, Samoan, New Zealand, South African, Maori, Pacifica, UK, Indian and Sri Lankan. The response to this mural was so touching and really helped me feel proud of this work and how important it is.
A huge thank you to Upper Hutt School for having me back to share this wonderful journey with you.
“I just wanted to share....
as the bell rang today, I felt a little tap on my back. A very shy student said to me
” I nearly cried today because I heard Filipino, and I never thought a school in NZ would mention me”
How gorgeous is that!
”