Violence free mural project

“I saw no quarrelling when I was there. They are kind to their women and children. I never observed either with a mark of violence upon them, nor did I ever see a child struck”.

Reverened Samuel Marsden

In June 2018, I was offered a mural commission by Te Runanga O Whangaroa with the support of E Tu Whanau.

The artist brief was a list of quotes from colonial settlers observing the interrelationships of man, woman and child. This as well as others was to become the inspiration for the visual content of the mural.

The creative process for this project involved drawing workshops encouraging rangatahi to respond creatively to their thoughts and feelings of ‘violence’ with pencil on paper. This exercise enabling rangatahi to create a visual language, relevant to their human experience.

The ‘language of colour’ was explored indepth also as another medium for expressing emotional response.

The hand became the main symbol of interest when visually representing this korero: “Our Ancestors enjoyed loving whanau relationships“, and inspired alot of positive kōrero expressing thoughtful and very personal feelings of living a violent free life.

 

 

 

 

 

Follow this link for more on this project.

This slideshow captures the creative process of the mural being applied to the cinder block wall.

Nga mihi to all the rangatahi who participated in the project and helped make it happen.

Arohanui,

Yazma Smith