Art in the city
How we’re building connections to our cities through our public art.
As we explore our towns and cities, we see more public art on our streets and neighbourhoods. Our public art has consisted of various installations, from murals on previously blank walls and phone boxes to statues, structures, lighting shows and temporary installations using a mix of physical, visual, and interactive features. Our public art is not only a chance to showcase the mahi of our local artists and add a bit of colour to our neighbourhoods. It’s also a chance to build connections to our cities by explaining the history of our built and natural environment and to create opportunities to breathe new life into our spaces.
Creating opportunities for placemaking:
There were many opportunities for people to connect with the places we live, work and play through the use of art in the beating heart of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland recently with Art Week, which is run by Heart of the City with support from Auckland Council during October. As part of Art Week, pop-up exhibitions and laneway installations are located throughout the city centre throughout October with the second Thursday of the month home to Late Night Art: where O’Connell St is transformed into an art gallery featuring interactive exhibitions from architecture students at the University of Auckland.
The theme for this year’s art week is happiness, which has been reflected in the “Changing Lanes” installations such as:
“On Happiness, A Concrete Poem for the City” on Durham Street East by Elliot Collins: featuring 80 disks suspended above the laneway, with a word from a poem of a list of things that make you happy.
“Efflorescence” on Darby Street by Angus Muir: An exploration of light and movement through 4 luminescent flowers of different colours.
“Joy Masks” on Jean Batten Place by Cinzah Merkens: 3 masks celebrating happiness and how it connects us.
“City Friends” on Little High Street by Lewi Hawken: A series of portrait-style figures that show energy and movement in their brutalist forms, shadow and depth while adding warmth and light through the warm palettes.
The Changing Lanes installations also connect to the city centre's built environment, as the artwork reflects on the built heritage of the laneways and the spaces that these laneways create.
Art connecting us with the stories of our past and present:
There are also many permanent art around the city centre that explain our stories of the past and present such as:
The Women's Suffrage Memorial in Te Hā o Hine Place was designed by Jan Morrison and Claudia Pond Eyley in 1993 to honour the women who campaigned for women to have the right to vote in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1893.
Eyelight Place in Fort Lane, designed by David Svensson in 2014, serves as a reminder of the earlier significance of the lane as a service lane and as a red-light district.
A mosaic on Quay Street outside the Ports of Auckland, designed by Jan Morrison, Vicki Worthington and Claudia Pond Eyley in 2001 to commemorate the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior in 1985.
Lost and Found on Federal Street, designed by Joe Sheehan, which was installed earlier this year, the artwork consists of 8 boulders with sculptures of shoes, sunglasses, jackets, gloves and a hat on top, reflecting life on Federal Street.
On Karangahape Road, the 1 km road is full of art explaining the history of the area, and the significance the area has to local artists, activists, musicians, immigrant and LGBTQ+ communities.
Examples of these are:
Don’t Dream It’s Over by Janet Lilo, which consists of 3 yellow light poles covered in bananas on the Karangahape Rd bridge (also known as the Rainbow Bridge), was installed in 2017, to reflect the street’s history as a melting pot and the area’s diversity.
Mural by Paul Walsh done as a tribute to The Chills lead singer Martin Phillipps, who passed away earlier this year.
The colourful bus shelters on the Karangahape Rd bridge, which were completed in 2020. The colours of the glass were a narrative of a pāua developed by Tessa Harris (Ngāi Tai Ki Tāmaki), adding to the vibrancy of the Karangahape neighbourhood.
Two pride crossings were completed in 2021 to highlight the connection the area has to the LGBTQ+ community.
The Vaana Peace Mural on the corner of Ponsonby and Karangahape Rd was originally installed in 1986 by Visual Artists Against Nuclear Armaments during the height of the nuclear-free movement in Aotearoa. The artwork has been restored multiple times and added new pieces to the mural over the last 38 years.
Art showcasing our natural environment:
Our towns and cities have murals on our walls, phone boxes, and temporary fences on our construction sites showcasing our native birds, marine life, and natural landscapes that make Aotearoa special. I enjoy seeing these murals as they create opportunities to connect to our natural environment and reminds us why we need to protect our native birds, natural landscapes, coastal environments and marine species that we treasure for future generations.
Examples of these include:
Paūa Topography by Paul Walsh, depicting the palette and patterns of a paūa shell on Melrose Street in Newmarket.
Mai i ngā maunga ki te moana by Janine and Charles Williams at Amey Daldy Park in Wynyard Quarter. The mural which features 12 native birds, reminds us of our roles as kaitiaki (guardians) of our natural environment.
A mural featuring a kārearea (New Zealand falcon) by Swift Mantis on Bradley Lane in Glen Innes, which also acts as a homage to the local rugby league team: The Glen Innes Falcons.
First Sunrise by Paul Walsh, located on a phone box on the corner of Maunsell and Parnell Rd.
Our Thriving Moana: Artwork located at the Viaduct from Bayfield School students in Herne Bay, showcases their vision for Te Waitematā and the Hauraki Gulf.
Some artwork connects to what our natural environment was like before the urbanisation of our towns and cities. An example of this is the city centre in Tāmaki Makaurau, where there is a mix of temporary and permanent artworks that explain the story of the Waihorotiu Valley and the former shoreline of the city.
Ripple: a temporary installation as part of Changing Lanes by Catherine Ellis and Angus Muir on Exchange Lane. The artwork serves as a reminder of the original shoreline of the city centre in Tāmaki Makaurau in 1840, where the laneway is located. You can also learn more about the original shoreline on this 5km walking route.
Tūrama, a series of large-scale lighting pieces that lit up along Queen Street during the Matariki Festival, to make those walking, biking and scootering on the Waihorotiu Path rediscover the valley before the urbanisation of the area. The artworks are made in collaboration with Graham Tipene (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Hauā, Ngāti Manu), Ataahua Papa (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta), Fred Graham (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura) and Angus Muir.
Waimahara by Graham Tipene is an interactive artwork located under Mayoral Dr at Myers Park. The artwork is designed to connect to Te Waihorotiu, the stream that formerly ran on Queen St and through Myers Park before the stream was undergrounded. For more about Waimahara, I recommend reading this piece by Connor Sharp from There’s No Place Like Auckland.
Creating a Te Ao Māori city through our public art:
The delivery of urban realm improvements and infrastructure projects have created opportunities to include artwork from Māori artists that contribute to having Te Ao Māori incorporated into our urban environments. This has been done through the use of Māori motifs, carvings and pou in murals, statues, structures and streetscapes.
Examples of these include:
Te Komititanga: a public square outside Waitematā Station, which opened in 2020 as part of works for the City Rail Link (CRL). In the middle of the square, basalt pavers have been used to form a whāriki (a fine woven mat) designed by Tessa Harris to welcome visitors from the sea to Tāmaki Makaurau.
Te Komititanga is also home to Molly Macalister’s: A Māori Figure in a Kaitaka Cloak, which depicts a Māori chief, the bronze statue was completed in 1967. Macalister was also the first woman in Aotearoa to receive a public art commission, who completed the statue in collaboration with Ngāti Whatua Ōrākei: one of the 19 iwi and hapu who are mana whenua to Tāmaki Makaurau.
Maunga by Shane Cotton (Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Hine, Te Uri Taniwha) on Customs Street East was completed in 2020. The pot forms depicted in the mural reference objects that appeared in the painted wharenui in the 19th century, a period of experimentation of Māori art following the availability of European materials. Each pot bears a name of a maunga, which references the city’s role in bringing people together from all around the motu.
Taurima: a series of neon-art light installations that float above Elliott St during the Matariki Festival by Lissy Robinson-Cole (Ngāti Kahu, Ngāti Hine), Rudi Robinson-Cole (Waikato, Ngaruahine, Ngāti Pāoa, Te Arawa), Ataahua Papa and Angus Muir. The artworks refer to the culinary history of the street, as studies from archeologists found evidence that the street was a place for harvesting and gathering kai for at least 500 years. The street still holds a strong connection to kai with Elliott St home to bakeries, cafes and eateries.
Te Waka Taumata o Horotiu: a 7-metre-high sculpture by Fred Graham depicting the taurapa (sternpost) and tauihu (prow) of a large ancestral waka. The structure was completed in 2008 and is located on the corner of Queen and Swanson St, the site of the former landing place of waka belonging to Ngāti Whatua and Ngāti Paoa on the original shoreline and was once a beach where Ngāti Paoa people kept their waka.
Recently, the sky element facades designed by Graham Tipene on the station buildings at the new Te Waihorotiu, Karanga-a-Hape and Maungawhau Station as part of the CRL have been completed. The sky element facade installed at the Wellesley Street entrance of Te Waihorotiu Station and Maungahau Station represents the tears of the sky father Ranginui, while the Karanga-a-Hape Station facade on the Mercury Lane entrance is an expression of Te Ika-whenua-o-te-rangi, the Milky Way constellation.
The CRL will feature artworks from mana whenua artists throughout the stations. For example: At the entrance of Maungawhau Station, passengers will be greeted by a giant basalt water wall, referencing Matāoho, the atua of the volcanic fields in Tāmaki Makaurau with 53 glass triangles will be placed into the basalt, representing the volcanic cones of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Conclusion:
Our public art does more than add more vibrancy and colour to our streets. It also explains what makes the character of our cities: The people. Our public art explains the stories of the people who live, work and play in our neighbourhoods today and in the past. Our public art also showcases our treasured natural environment and creates an opportunity to connect with Te Ao Māori in our built environments.
It’s also a way to bring us together. What I noticed during last Thursday's Late Night Art is the joy in people’s faces when interacting with the artworks of the architecture students, being amazed by the creativity of our artists within 20 minutes during an art battle and watching our local musicians from the steps of Freyberg Square. It’s great to see how our artists bring new life to our spaces and I look forward to continuing to enjoy their works in the future.
Want to learn more? You can have a look at:
Auckland Public Art: Featuring maps and information about the public art collection around Tāmaki Makaurau.
Art Week may be over, but The Changing Lanes installations will be on show till early December.
EcoMatters have built a map of street art around Tāmaki Makaurau during the running of the Street Art Bike Challenge.
Walking tours are held regularly by various organisations of street art in areas around Tāmaki Makaurau.