Fabric art Matariki puppets enthrall city crowds
Fabric artist Ron Te Kawa has been enthralling school holiday audiences with his colourful tales illustrated with fabric art creations.
On Friday he used puppets to tell the story of Matariki, and how the gods Ranginui and Papatuanuku were split apart by their children, to a packed audience at Square Edge in Palmerston North. The two gods’ divine children all started life jammed together fighting, squirming and farting on their brothers and sisters, he showed, with a suitcase jam packed full of the gods.
But they burst apart from their parents, and each found a part of the natural world to became god of.
Te Kawa showed the children how Papatuanuku the earth mother was injured by her children’s actions, and how she was healed by the seven Matariki stars. About 20 colourful fabric puppets as well as intricate backdrops and props were created in about two months, when Te Kawa realised he wanted to share more storytelling. ‘‘I make whakapapa quilts that tell stories, the storytelling came from actually making the quilts and having to tell the stories about them.’’
‘‘I used no pattern and the characters emerged.’’
He debuted the show last week before a crowd of 1200 people at the Matariki Festival at the Auckland Library. A second tale in the show tells of a young girl who gets sick and drives with her father and uncle from Invercargill to Ruatoria. ‘‘They follow the Matariki stars, all through New Zealand, and sing, and she gets better. ‘‘They tell us we don’t have to heal the planet, we have to step back and let the planet heal us, we’re the diseased ones – it’s for us to get reconnected. Matariki is a blueprint, if people listen to the Matariki story there’d be no depression and the environment would be pristine, and that’s the message I really want kids to know.’’ The free show is also on at Square Edge on Saturday and Sunday at 12.30pm.