October 18, 2021
Lights out at Tairāwhiti Arts Festival
The first part of the Tairāwhiti Arts Festival wound up yesterday, with an emphasis on COVID-safe outdoor sculptural installations.
Artistic director Tama Waipara says Te Ara a Whiti, curated by Melanie Tangaere Baldwin, brought together 12 artists with connections to the region who created pieces that worked by both day and night, with the support of award-winning lighting designer Angus Muir.
“This particular part of the festival has grown and has broadened and deepened and is really one of the signature pieces and the most important thing apart from being pretty lights at night is the depth of mātauranga Māori that sits underneath all these pūrakau in all of the works, so we are very lucky to be able to go ahead,” he says.
Part two of the Tairawhiti Arts Festival is set for February with concerts and theatre pieces that couldn’t go ahead under current restrictions.