Larger than Life Portrait Mural

Throughout term 2, 2025 a group of students and I have been on an incredible journey exploring the idea of their school whanau groups. St Claudine’s Thevenet School in Wainuiamata is surrounded by Rata, Rimu, Hinau and Totara trees. They populate the area in the expansive native bush of the valley. The streets near the school are also named after these important trees which expresses how proud they all are of them. When we dug a little deeper we found that the ages of children in each whanau group were named after each tree for a reason. The rata tree attaches itself to larger trees to help it climb into the light high above the bush. It eventually takes the place of the tree it climbed. Like the younger children at the school learning and being supported by the older students ‘Tuakana-teina.’ Eventually taking their place as the leaders of the school. The Rimu and Hinau trees both play important roles in the local ecosystem but are not the largest trees. The Totara is known for its large size, resilience and longevity and is often used as the symbol of strength and leadership.

We found this lovely Whakatauki that compliments this idea of leadership within the school. 

🌱E kore te tōtara e tū noa i te pārae engari me tū i roto i te wao-nui-a-Tāne

🌱The tōtara tree does not stand alone in a field but in the great forest of Tane

We also looked at a Samoan proverb Le ala i le pule o le Tautua ‘The Pathway to Leadership is Service’ which felt like a nice way to look at the journey through the whanau groups and links to the schools values.

St Claudine’s school is rich with pacifica, maori, asian and pakeha students. We looked at some great art and motifs from these cultures as well as some New Zealand artists and muralists. The students created some of their own patterns and designs which are featured in the detailing on the mural. The patterns they chose were special to them and their heritage which are samoan, filipino and maori. The shapes and motifs they used represent strength, protection, resilience, family, power, guidance through difficult times, unity, union and faith.

Throughout this mural concept development journey the students created a large amount of drawings of trees, people and cultural patterns. They then put these three elements into their own compositions and mural designs. These drawings are what I have based the final concept on however I have played with scale, layout and composition to create the desired impact and communicate our ideas clearly. The mural features 4 students from the school, one from each whanau group chosen by the mural students. The mural students then painted majority of the artwork themselves and I completed the black outlines and finer details. This was such a wonderful project, I am always blown away with what each group of students comes up with.