Pacifica Mamas weave tales of home for show
Beneath nimble fingers, Mary Ama weaves and folds plastic strapping, creating bangles and little windmills for visitors.
Ama is a founding member of the Pacifica Mamas, an art collective committed to passing on knowledge of the traditional arts.
The collective is holding an exhibition at the Corban Estate Arts Centre, Auckland until December 10.
‘‘The exhibit provides people a welcoming, a pathway into our culture,’’ said Ama.
‘‘We, as Pacific Islanders, need to learn who we are and what we have. When you understand who you are in terms of your heritage and what you bring, then you will know who you are and how you fit in here in New Zealand.’’
The collective began in Henderson over 20 years ago as a way for matriarchs of the Pacific Island community to share crafts with younger generations.
The Mamas pushed for the creation of the Pacific Arts Centre at Corbans in 1994, though the current exhibit is the first time that they have exhibited at the Centre themselves.
‘‘We are coming home,’’ Ama said.
Ama has also been involved in art and rehabilitation programs at Spring Hill Corrections Facility, near Huntly.
In 2015, Ama and the Pacifica Mamas were awarded the Arts Access Corrections Community Award for their work with the inmates.
‘‘I say to prisoners, you need to look within to find avenues to survive.’’
Ama’s daughter, and director of the Pacifica Arts Centre, Jarcinda Stowers-Ama, said the collective has become a worldwide phenomenon with hundreds of members across the globe.
‘‘The process of creating the exhibit was like a quilters’ circle the women talked and gossiped as they created the works.‘‘
The exhibit also included a fale, or traditional house, woven by the participants of the Spring Hill art programme.
‘‘When the mamas teach prisoners, they are giving them a sense of home. By creating that fale, the men have given us a home for the exhibit,’’ said Stowers-Ama.
The exhibition and the ethos of Pacifica Mamas pivoted on the idea of using heritage to invest in the future, she said.
‘‘This is a way for us to bring the culture out before its lost,’’ Ama said.