Zoe Black
- Kauae Raro in the city
August 2021
As a collective, we deeply value our community and everyone who shares their knowledge and resources. In July 2021, we were asked by Qiane Matata-Sipu to do a workshop for NUKU in Manukau as a part of their NUKU live series. Dragging our dirt up the island was quite a daunting thought, but we really wanted to spend time with the Tāmaki-based people who have shown us love online for the last few years.
Zoe Black (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Māhia) has been a long time supporter of Kauae Raro. She creates recycled hand-made paper that she’s gifted to us, and many other indigenous creatives, over the last year. Zoe and a few of her excellent mates attended the workshop in Manukau and she’s put together a few thoughts about that evening to share with us.
Zoe, Elisapeta and Icao at the NUKU Papatūānuku workshop
Image credit: NUKU/ Taylor Aumua (2021)
A gloomy afternoon in Tāmaki and traffic was crawling out of the city. We were discussing architecture and how our city can sometimes feel overwhelming, a hostile environment to live and be in. My friends and I contemplated the influence of our surroundings as we drove down the Southern Motorway. We were about to take part in a very welcome antidote, a wānanga lead by Kauae Raro as part of NUKU Live.
The wānanga focused on introducing earth pigments to us whenua fangirls. We were shown how to grind down dried red clay and mix it with resin and water to create kōkōwai paint. We were able to choose from a selection of the most beautiful colours collected by Kauae Raro from their rohe to dye a bandana – the most badass way to rep a love of dirt.
Zoe and Elisapeta staining bandanas
Image Credit: NUKU/ Taylor Aumua (2021)
For us city kids, opportunities to get our hands dirty and really connect with the whenua are few and far between. This wānanga broke down the separation built up around the concrete, brick and steel that form our everyday surroundings. We were encouraged to seek out places were clay might be uncovered – building sites, roading projects, parks and sports fields – and gently harvest from between the paving and apartment blocks. We were able to feel the openness of the clay and earth, see the vibrancy and delicacy of the colours in the landscape and understand the warmth of these materials. Pigments are everywhere, you just need to look for them.
The bandana fruits of our workshop, ‘drying’ in the Manukau streetlight
Image credit: Sarah Hudson (2021)
This small reprieve from the harshness we sometimes feel in the city and the opportunity to share space, learn and connect brought a new perspective on how we can live in urban environments. As we left we buzzed over the potency of the whenua, vowing to commit time to extend our understanding of the knowledge we were just gifted. Back on the Southern Motorway, we chanted ‘Kōkō Gang!!!’ and viewed the city with a whole new potential.
Whenua, the antithesis of hostile.
nā Zoe Black, August 2021