Mural a tribute Bay’s cultural diversity
A new artwork incorporates voices from around the globe
Voices from across the globe who have come to call Heretaunga home have contributed to the latest piece of colour across its urban walls.
A new 20m x 4m mural celebrating Hastings’ local cultures and communities by local artist Dali Susanto has appeared on a wall beside Hastings Sport Centre.
The design of the “Connected Communities Wellbeing Wall” was created through collaboration between representatives of a range of multicultural community groups.
Hastings Sports Centre kaiwhakahaere Fiona Devonshire said workshops were held over five months to explore what “wellbeing” meant to the participants.
“The facilitated workshops allowed people to share their stories and think about what wellbeing is via Sir Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Wha¯ model that encompasses physical, mental, wha¯nau and spiritual wellness,” she said in a statement.
“The participants enjoyed sharing their stories and the feeling of connection that came about as a result.”
The workshops were open for all to attend and included people from Filipino, Kiribas, Samoan, Punjabi, Bangladeshi,
Nepali, Indonesian, Chinese, Somalian, Rawandan, Turkish, Swiss, British, Pa¯keha and Ma¯ori
communities, who also represented a range of faiths.
Susanto, who was born in
Indonesia and has lived in Aotearoa New Zealand since 2007, said he sat in the workshops and did his best to record everyone’s ideas and perspectives.
He said the art incorporated mother earth, father sun, Hawke’s Bay hills, community diversity and wellbeing, pacific islands, the mandala, meditation and involved a community effort.
He said the mural art sent him out of his comfort zone because the humanoid figures were a slight departure from his more typical abstract style.
Both of his parents in Indonesia were artists and he had done it since childhood.
“I started off with paper and canvas and then I started doing things I was not meant to be doing like the couch, bags and jackets.
“I’m enjoying doing different media.”
The project came from the Hastings District Council Multicultural Strategy 2020-2025 aim to create and promote public art that celebrates and reflects diversity.
Council great communities subcommittee chairwoman Eileen Lawson said this aim included supporting people of all cultures and backgrounds to feel welcome, for their identity to be respected and to have public spaces that reflect the diverse cultures that live in the city.
The mural was supported by funding received from the Ministry of Ethnic Communities.