Taggers turn talents to art

By WAYNE THOMPSON

Three Papakura teen taggers have swapped their spray cans for chisels and sandpaper to make a gift of sculpture for the community.

Their enthusiasm during six weeks of work on the 4m sculpture has amazed their supervisor, John Tohia, who is a professional stone carver.

A similar reaction has come from parents of the two 15-year-olds and a 16-year-old, who were sent to Tohia's yard by the police after being linked to graffiti and deemed to be at risk.

"A mother came up to me and said: 'What have you done to my son?'

"I was wondering what was wrong, but then she said: 'My kid is making his bed every day."'

Another parent asked how Tohia managed to turn his boy around so he would get out of bed early to go to work.

But roll up for work the youngsters do, bright and early and even on Saturdays.

The trio were given a week to design their contributions to the four panels being carved from Hinuera stone.

Tohia said he was thrilled by the depth of thought and feeling that went into representations of natural features of the Papakura district.

"They are paying their respects to the community," he said.

The sculpture is a commission by the Papakura District Business Association, helped by donations, as a gift to the district council.

The coordinator for the association, Harold Shepherd, and Tohia believe the project's success signals the need for more to follow.

Tohia suggested that a "sculpture centre" could be set up to provide training and continuous work for up to 20 at-risk youths who had dropped out of school.

Sales of work could eventually make such a centre self-funding.

A further idea was to canvas support for the creation of a sculpture park, which would feature works by youngsters.