Latest news with #RebeccaFox
Otago Daily Times
28-05-2025
- General
- Otago Daily Times
Exhibition hoped to foster connection
In a first for the Hocken Collections a waka has been installed in its foyer as part of the exhibition ''Ruruku: An exhibition by Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki waka club'', Rebecca Fox writes. ''She just glides so beautifully.'' Having been lucky enough to take part in Kuramātakitaki 's dawn maiden voyage, Jacinta Beckwith (Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu) can attest to the waka's movement on water. However, that first sail out into the open water was not without some apprehension for the crew from Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki waka club who had spent two years creating the tradition-inspired vessel from scratch. ''We were all nervous that she would float. And she did. And she just really holds herself really well. It's a really amazing experience.'' Beckwith first became involved in the Karitane community through the Ki Uta ki Tai native plant restoration project with Puketeraki marae back in 2018. On one stay on the marae, she had the opportunity to go out on a waka with the club. ''That community vibe is very [much a] part of their kaupapa, inviting everyone in to join in and experience what it is like being out on the water.'' Beckwith loved the experience so much she has been involved with the club ever since. She has crewed on other waka such as the double-hull waka hourua Hinemoana , from the national waka festival, Te Hau Komaru, at Kaiteretere, to Whakaraupō (Lyttelton) in April last year. ''It was like nothing I had experienced before, just joyous being out on the water and very restorative. It made me think a lot about our ancestors when they came here on their waka. Seeing the stars and seeing the land from the perspective of being out on the water was just amazing.'' So when she became the head curator Māori at Hocken Collections in 2023 and was invited to produce an exhibition her first thought was of Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki and creating a community-led exhibition. She took the idea to the club, which had previous experience installing a smaller waka Hauteruruku in the University of Otago's central library many years ago. ''It really drew people in.'' So despite the space being smaller at the Hocken, the club were keen to do it again and the work began. What has become known as the Ruruku project received funding through the Coastal People: Southern Skies, National Centre of Research Excellence. The club decided to construct an 8m, double-hulled waka joined by two 3m-wide kiatō (thwarts) with a 8m mast using a strip-plank timber traditional design which is lighter than a dug-out hull and also makes more efficient use of natural materials. Western red cedar, known as the tree of life, was selected for use in the hulls as it connects the waka to Pacific Rim North America. Other woods such as Atlantic cedar, Canadian oregon, native beech, Fijian and native kauri, rimu, Pacific hardwood meranti and Australian hardwood were used as well. The materials were all cut, joined, carved, sanded and sealed using contemporary methods by volunteers from the community and the club over many weekend workshops. ''We've all shared skills, or for me, learnt lots of skills, like fiberglassing, there's been a lot of sanding.'' It is designed for coastal voyaging and can be paddled or sailed or both. On May 19 the finished waka was sailed down Otago Harbour and then taken on a trailer to its temporary home in the Hocken foyer as the centrepiece of the exhibition ''Ruruku: An exhibition by Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki waka club''. ''The great thing about the waka is people are able to touch it. So this is like a living exhibition. People can touch the waka. People can get on the waka, two at a time, take photos with the waka. So it's different from the idea of not being able to touch artwork.'' To continue the living theme, there will be a group of weavers making a sail from harakeke (flax), inspired by the traditional waka sail ''Te Ra'' returned to New Zealand in 2023 on loan after being in the collection of the British Museum for 200 years. Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki co-founder Suzi Flack says Te Rā Ringa Raupa has been teaching experienced weavers of Whiria Ka Aho ki Puketeraki how to weave their own sail using traditional fibres and materials, relearning a lost practice. These weavers will then be able to teach others so this mātauraka (knowledge) is not lost again. ''The materials, harakeke, kiekie, feathers and techniques, learning a new pattern, using the right cultivars, making muka for the ropes - it's important to share so these new skills aren't lost again. ''Like building a waka, weaving a sail is a journey. We laugh when we thought weaving whaariki [sleeping mat] was a big job, and it was, but this is even bigger.'' But the waka is just the start of the exhibition. In the Hocken's gallery visitors can view objects of personal and cultural significance from the club and marae which tells the story of the waka and the club. ''We have photographs from the waka build days and photos from the launch. She launched it in February this year. And then photos from the club, from the building of the first hull of the first waka in 2010.'' The first waka built by the club was Hauteruruku , followed by Hiwa-i-te-rangi , and then Kuramātakitaki . But the club's activities also include using waka unua, waka ama, stand-up paddle boards and a Happy Cat sailboat brought to life by Ewan Duff. Beckwith says they have built relationships with different voyaging societies so the exhibition celebrates those waka connections, both throughout New Zealand and overseas. The exhibition includes photographs from Te Hau Komaru which the club took part in. ''What is great is having these little waka in on the water and among the big waka, enjoying that bigger waka whanau.'' There is also koha that has been given to the club over the years including six paddles, an anchor stone and waka ceramics by artist Phyllis Smith. A series of artworks made by a group of rangatahi and local artist Simon Kaan back in the late 1990s that depict the story of the coastline are being hung along with works of different waka from around the Pacific including 13 watercolour prints by Hawaiian artist and historian Herb Kawainui Kane. ''They show the connections. They're of different waka from different Pacific places, including Hokule'a . Hokule'a , was built or finished in 1975. It's been the 50th anniversary of this waka this year, and it was the big inspiration for the waka revitalisation. So he was the designer for that.'' One of his artworks depict New Zealand scenes including a waka and a weaver. ''So it celebrates waka kaupapa, waka taonga and waka connections throughout Aotearoa and the Pacific.'' Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki's journey began as a result of the revival of traditional navigation and sailing spear headed by Te Toki Voyaging about 15 years ago where there was an opportunity for Ngāi Tahu whanau to come together and sail as an iwi. Puketeraki kaumātua Hinerangi Ferrall-Heath's vision was to establish a club, so with Flack and husband Brendan Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki was formed with the aim to get whanau out on the water in a fun, safe way. Some whanau joined Fire in Ice waka ama club to learn paddling and steering and competed in a regatta. ''Gradually we grew towards being more kaupapa Māori than competitive,'' Flack says. They also began to build their own waka, bringing together people with different skills and interests. Its first job was to build a roof over its waka shed. ''At its heart is the build but what also grows are the relationships and connections made along the way.'' Now the waka is complete members will continue to learn how to sail it, water safety measures and how to look after it. Having the waka and other club taonga exhibited at the Hocken is a celebration of what the club has achieved during the past 15 years and the people involved, Flack says. ''We hope that those who have been involved with the waka over the years - whether as club members or through time spent on the water with us - will come and reconnect.'' TO SEE: • Ruruku: An exhibition by Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki waka club Hocken Gallery, until August 2. • Ruruku Waka Workshop, June 28, 11am.
Otago Daily Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Youth choir hitting all the right notes
From standing ovations to high praise from critics, Dunedin's Southern Youth Choir is going from strength to strength. Rebecca Fox asks choir members and its director, John Buchanan, about its success. When members of the Southern Youth Choir begin to sing The Armed Man , many will be thinking of what their ancestors went through while serving in the armed forces. The "Mass for Peace" by Sir Karl Jenkins celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Originally commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum, it premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, London, on April 25, 2000, and was dedicated to the victims of the Kosovo crisis. Written for a choir with soloists and a symphonic orchestra, it is considered an anti-war piece, using the text of the Latin Mass and poetry and prose from around the world to tell the story of going to war and the horror and loss that results. It ends with a prayer for peace. It has been performed around the world more than 3000 times — including in New York on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The 3000th performance was conducted by Sir Karl, celebrating his 80th birthday, at the Royal Albert Hall last year. Southern Youth Choir director John Buchanan says they selected the work as it commemorates 80 years since the end of World War 2. "I think it's an appropriate work in these times to do." Having conducted the piece twice before, Buchanan is no stranger to the work, which he describes as very relatable for an audience. "He weaves poems to it, like one of the Rudyard Kipling ones about getting ready for war, going to war. Then we know that we could be going to die. It's quite a powerful poem. It was that Victorian thing about being brave and going off to die for your country. "And then it takes you to the actual battle. And then at the end there, there's this amazing part where the choir just makes this huge noise like the sounds of battle, the sounds of people dying, really horrific-sounding and then silence." It also includes "Benedictus" played on the cello, before finally concentrating on peace being better than war. "It ends up with a beautiful unaccompanied chorale, just about God shall wipe away your tears." Choir member Kate Koller, 20, a student from Christchurch, says it is also appropriate as it is coming up to the first Matariki since the last member of the 28th Maori Battalion (Sir Bom Gillies) died. "So it's coming up to the first chance to remember him and I guess the members of the Maori Battalion, so that's special." For the choir members it is also a chance to remember their own great and great-great grandparents' contributions to various wars around the world, as well as the impact on and ramifications for their families. Soprano and New Zealand Youth Choir member Rosie Auchinvole's great-grandfather on her father's side was a Royal Air Force squadron leader who was in a plane which crashed on the Isle of Mull during World War 2. Her family went to Mull in 2015 and visited a whisky shop, which turned out to be owned by the descendants of the people who saved her great-grandfather. "It was, like, middle of winter, high up on a mountain, he had to trek through the snow in the middle of the night [to save them]. It's just a crazy, weird story." Her grandfather Chris, who was in the armed forces in the United Kingdom, but now lives in Dunedin, sings in the RSA Choir and Auchinvole, who grew up in Dunedin, is an RSA choir scholar, so they sing together sometimes. "Which is really, really cute, so that's a nice connection to The Armed Man as well." The grandfather of fellow chorister George Warren was in the British Army for most of his working life and served a lot of time in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Holding his grandfather's medals, Warren, 25, of Kaiapoi, says his grandparents travelled to a lot of different postings over the years, and his late uncle was born in Germany while they were stationed there. "Performing this concert makes me think of Granddad in a way because, I mean, he's still with us and me and him used to attend all of the Anzac Day services together ever since I was a wee lad." That had only stopped this year as, after a car accident last year, his grandfather, who is 85, struggles to walk. Koller's great-grandfather was more like a grandfather to her, but died when she was 9. Before he died, the Royal Air Force navigator, who had been reluctant to talk about the war, spoke about his time in the Pacific. "He had some really cool stories ... [such as] one day the pilot dropped something so he bent over to pick it up right as a bullet went above his head. He had some close experiences. I think it really impacted him. My mum said her granddad was the same. He didn't talk about it at all. He survived everything he fought but he didn't talk about it ever." The worst family story for her was learning of her relatives in the mounted services having their horses killed before returning home. "I'm such a big animal lover and that has always got to me." Dunedin's Ewen Clarke-Wallace, 21, who is one of the longest-serving choir members, having joined at 15, will be remembering his great-grandfather, who died in Egypt at the beginning of World War 2. But other ancestors, two brothers from Lawrence, luckily returned from the war. Another was involved in the South African Light Horse Brigade in the Boer Wars. "It kind of just underscores the reasons why people went to war and why they actually did that. Because it's very easy to be like 'these silly people with their silly killing each other'. But they did that for a reason. And we are that reason. So it's important for me that there's, you know, both sides of that interaction." Buchanan says performing a full work like The Armed Man will be the biggest performance the choir has done in recent years. The choir will be performing the "reduced orchestration" option, so a cellist — choir member Portia Bell — flautist, three trumpets and a group of percussionists have been enlisted. Having conducted the piece before, he is impressed at how well the choir are singing it in rehearsal. "There's this wonderful youthful freshness that this choir's got. It's just wonderful." The choir was was established in 1992 by Maureen Smith and Anthony Ritchie for young singers aged 16-25, whether students or working. "It's open to all people but they're mainly university students, and it's had its ups and downs as far as numbers are concerned over the years." In recent years, they have stopped auditioning and opened the choir to anyone who has performed in a secondary school choir, and numbers have grown to about 65. The singers all enjoy the collegiality of the choir, the ability to meet others with similar interests and how it provides a break from the stress of study. The aim is to do at least two performances a year. Last year the choir performed Vivaldi's Gloria at the Big Sing, and have also performed concerts featuring a mixed bill of classical and popular music. "And those concerts got a standing ovation. They're singing really well. They are singing magnificently." Buchanan puts their success down to a change in the ethos of the choir, which has a student committee very involved in its work. "There's a good range of experience in the choir. There's people who have sung in school choirs their whole lives. There's people doing music degrees. People in national choirs. Everyone gets along." To see: Southern Youth Choir and chamber orchestra, The Armed Man , May 25, 2.30pm, St Paul's Cathedral.
