Te Pūkōnohinohi ā Ngaru

I wanted a kete with 2 different colours, one on the ends and another in the middle. I harvested the whenu, prepped it and bundled it up differently to make dip dyeing it easier. When I cast on, I didnt know what pattern to use past Niho Taniwha (representing a story/storyteller), but eventually it came to me. Whakatū (meaning to stand up, be strong), always a favourite pattern, and also Waahi Rua (meaning being separated from a person, place or time), just seemed right. While weaving the mind wanders, and I started thinking about where I am in my weaving journey. The containers that we are converting into a studio, have been an ever present ambition/goal - one that we are now starting to realise. Emptying one out means I get to go through boxes of items from my childhood, and ohmygosh the memories are so bittersweet.  

As I wove and thought I realised what this piece meant to me. It represents my journey through weaving, how hard it is, how I have had to stick to it, work hard, and how throughout all of it the feeling of missing my parents is constantly there. Coming and going in waves, it feels much like what the waves of colour on this piece look like.  

The kete it was supposed to be grew too big, but I still had something to say, so a wallhanging it became instead.  

This piece has the last whenu/tag from the kakahu I wove for my big girl, to represent how much my parents loved my kids, pāua shells for my dads love of diving and the sea, and kereru feathers for my mums love of the garden and the ngāhere.