A vibrant artwork at New World Supermarket showcases artistic talents of year 9 and 10 students at Ōpōtiki College.

The recently unveiled mural depicts a whare surrounded by Māori gods associated with food production from agriculture and the sea.

The project began to take shape last year when store manager Stacey Andrew approached the college curriculum leader for visual arts, Tia Pohatu, to see if the college would be interested in doing an artwork.

“I immediately said ‘yes’, as I see immense benefit in community projects that allow our students to connect with their community through the arts, Ms Pohatu said.

The college has a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics) programme and from this Ms Pohatu picked a team of year 9 and 10 students to be involved.

“The brief that we were given was a wharenui that encompassed New World values; everything else was up to us.

“We decided on using the Māori gods associated with food, cultivation and the idea of home.

“The students had one block a week over 10 weeks to come up with a final design. They presented a slideshow to New World staff,” Ms Pohatu said.

“In term 4, once our seniors had left for study leave, we had five weeks to complete it. We had one-to-two days a week up there to finish.

“The students did an incredible job over that short amount of time; they exceeded my expectations. We have some exceptionally talented young people at Ōpōtiki College.”

Ms Pohatu believes the mural will inspire and uplift.

“The purpose of this mural is to have each of our mahi whānau create their whakapapa and these will be placed inside the whare.”

The work represents Tangaroa and Tāne Mahuta, depicted in colours of the ocean and forest respectively.

The amo (posts of the building) represent gods of wild cultivated food, with browns and earthy tones used for these.

Two taniwhas atop each amo look outwards as guardians of space.

The mural gives a nod to the courage of the great Pacific navigators who launched out to discover new lands and resources for their people.

“On top of the window frame is a tiki with frangipani flowers, once again giving reference to the Pacific and our continual connection to it.

“The colours of the wharenui are blues and yellow to reference the many different oceans people have crossed to make Ōpōtiki their home.”

The students involved in the mural were:

Year 9: Tamati Awatere-Kohunui, Nevaeh Edwards-Kora, Juarn Mason, Haylin Matthews, Shannon Ngawhika, HineAroha Phillips and  Ipo Te Maipi.

Year 10: June Carmichael, Deon Edwardson, Terama Gerrard-Watene, Irie Harawira, Talia Kahukiwa, Blaise Kurei, Bozey Maynard, Rakena Nepe, Harley Thompson-Rakuraku, Cynzarh Salmon and JJ Walker-Scullin.