Pāpāmoa College Te Hononga exhibition creating connections

Olivia Tilby-Adams and Nicholas Lawson with their work from the exhibition.

Pāpāmoa College students are connecting with the wider community through an art exhibition at Tauranga’s Historic Village.

The exhibition has the theme Te Hononga - embodying connections and relationships to people, places and objects such as tāonga, heirlooms and gifts.

Head of visual arts Tania Lewis-Rickard says the exhibition offered an opportunity to the whole school.

“I told the kids it’s not a competition it’s about participating which is one of the core values for our kura - it’s about taking a leap of faith and participating. That’s why the theme is about supporting them in terms of whatever they feel they connect to, whether it’s relationships, identity, their culture or whether it’s just something they want to share.”

All the work submitted was accepted and the invitation wasn’t limited to those studying visual arts.

“There was no selection process because it wasn’t about the elite arts in the school. We were advocating te hononga and connections and I think if we went ahead and just selected the elite or the top art it would be totally against the kaupapa.”

As the deadline for submissions neared, interest grew.

“At first it was ‘I hope we are going to get enough work to fill the gallery’, then in the last week it was ‘I hope there’s enough wall space to take all this artwork’.”

Tania says the students were given the opportunity to be creative and connect who they are with the rest of the world and “to create a visual reference to what’s going on in their world and what they want to share and what’s important to them.”

Some of the works are for sale.

“We said to the kids ‘you don’t have to sell your work, you are entering into it because it’s something personal to you that you have decided to do - it’s not for us, we are just providing the platform for you to share your stories through art.”

She says many of the students shared their narratives, and some of the stories are heartbreaking.

“Some of the kids we don’t even know, but we know their story.”

Deputy head student Olivia Tilby-Adams says her connection is to her local environment.

“When I think of Pāpāmoa beach, it is really beautiful on a sunny day, and it’s about family and our connection to the sea,” she says.

It is her first exhibition outside the school.

“It’s awesome to be able to show our work to people from outside the school and just to show who you are and I think it was also really cool to see what it meant to the school just to see so many people able to enjoy the work.”

The exhibition is on at the People’s Gallery, part of the Incubator Creative Hub at Tauranga Historic Village.

Tania heard from Incubator director Simone Anderson that there was a gap in the gallery schedule.

“I’ve always wanted to have an exhibition on that side [of the bridge]. We’ve exhibited at Pāpāmoa Plaza, but that was our senior folio boards and was pre-Covid. When [Simone] reached out I didn’t think twice.”

Even the location fits the exhibition’s kaupapa by creating a connection with Tauranga.

“It’s good for people in Tauranga to know Pāpāmoa College is part of our region - part of our rohe,” says Tania.