Maoriland Film Festival 2017
Ōtaki, New Zealand / Aotearoa
We were honored to travel to Ōtaki, New Zealand / Aotearoa to attend the Māoriland Film Festival where the Mele Murals Documentary film was screened for the first time in Aotearoa.
This project was one of a great one where we quickly learned that indigenous Māori culture is extremely similar to the native Hawaiian culture. This was to be the first of four murals to be painted in the beach town of Ōtaki. The students from Te Kura-ā-Iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano (WRM) took quickly to our grounding process and shared the story of a taniwha (Māori for akua or demigod) called Mukukai. Mukukai took the form of a tree log that flowed up the Ōtaki River and was seen in several shape shifting forms of a shark, a whale and a sea dragon.
Mele:
Mukakai taniwha kai
Mukukai terenga wai
Muhukai nukuroa e
Mukakai tupua e
Mural Name
Mukukai Te Taniwha
Date Completed
March 2017
Schools Served
Te Kura-ā-Iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano and youth from Maoriland Film Festival
Lead Artists
Estria Miyashiro and Mike Bam Tyau
Cultural Practitioners, Kūpuna, Community Orgs
Te Kura-ā-Iwi o Whakatupuranga Rua Mano, Maoriland Film Festival
Sponsors & Supporters
US Embassy New Zealand, Māoriland Film Festival
We Need Your Help
Your tax deductible Annual Membership provides much needed support for arts education in Hawaiʻi.
Help purchasing much needed supplies for our wall murals.
Assist in funding cultural advisers for our youth workshops.
Help stage events surrounding our public mural unveilings.
We Need Your Help
Your tax deductible Annual Membership provides much needed support for arts education in Hawaiʻi.
Help purchasing much needed supplies for our wall murals.
Assist in funding cultural advisers for our youth workshops.
Help stage events surrounding our public mural unveilings.