Artwork panels transform concrete waka walls outside Te Takere

Youth artwork has transformed the 10 concrete waka walls outside Te Takere in Levin.

The colourful panels were unveiled yesterday afternoon to coincide with the start of Youth Week which runs until this Sunday.

As part of the Waka Walls Project, young people aged between 12 and 24-years-old were invited to submit artwork to be printed and fixed temporarily to one of the 10 waka walls measuring over two metres high.

It attracted 51 design submissions from 49 young people throughout the District.

Horowhenua Youth Voice chairperson Jotham Harris said the unveiling was the end of a long journey for the youth councillors, as well as all of the organisations that had a role in the Waka Walls Project.

"The aim of this project was to celebrate our talented young people, and transform the 10 concrete waka walls outside Te Takere into an outdoor gallery space," he said.

"The waka walls are an important part of Te Takere. They are a fundamental architectural representation of the inside edge of both hulls of ‘the waka where treasures are kept’ - the very meaning of Te Takere’s name. The 10 concrete waka walls outside have had recesses in them since the day they were constructed, in the hope that one day we’d be able to put artwork worthy of the profile into this space."

Youth Voice deputy chairperson Josh Anderson, also a Creative Communities Horowhenua Committee member, said the Ministry of Youth Development-funded Waka Walls Project was a District-wide collaboration by Horowhena District Council, Te Takere and its Contact Youth Space team, local artists who led workshops, the Horowhenua At Society and the local colleges.

Josh said without this collaboration and the quality of artwork submissions the project would not have been so successful.

"Forty-nine young people from as young as 12 and as old as 23 put forward their designs and the quality of all of those submissions was outstanding. I can say that because I was on the committee that had to pick them - and it was tough."

District Mayor Brendan Duffy said seeing the artwork was inspiring and that seeing family members taking photos of their kids in front of their artwork was powerful.

"We have a place right here in provincial New Zealand where we can see art to this high calibre, produced by young people from our community for our place. Frankly it just doesn't get any better," Mayor Duffy said.

"Those 49 young people who put their artwork forward for this challenge - they're all winners. And, for the 10 who managed to get their work up on the panels have set a standard for this site for generations to come. I congratulate you."

The 10 artworks displayed on the waka walls include:

Six from Horowhenua College pupils:
• Jesse Smith (Year 12)
• Hine TePeeti (Year 12)
• Vada Bowling (Year 13)
• Adam Groeneveld (Year 13)
• Khai Reed (Year 13)
• Laura Wedlock (Year 13)

Two from Waiopehu College pupils:
• Courtney Butcher (Year 12)
• Zachary Taylor (Year 12)

Two public submissions:
• Rachel Sue, aged 13 (also a Horowhenua College pupil)
• Paula Chambers, aged 23

ENDS

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