Year 13 students at Ōtāhuhu College have formed a whakairo collective, and are encouraging other Māori students to take up the art form.
The group, Te Tārai Rangatira Collective, will have its work featured at Māngere Arts Centre next month where it will be open to the public.
The students have been carving since junior year and hope more of their peers will get involved.
Benjamin Brown (Ngā Puhi) is the rangatira of the group and said whakairo is a safe place for him outside of home.
“In this space this is like home at school because home is my favourite place and so, when I come here, it’s just another way of where I can relate.
“This is my favourite place in the world. When I go to those other places ’nah’... I just come here and do my work.”
He took some of his whakairo home where he taught his mum and siblings the art of carving.
“I said ‘Come I’ll teach you’ and ever since I taught her, she just got hooked to it. I got hooked to it too. I taught my younger siblings.
“My younger brother is carving at the moment and he’s carving real mean. Just trying to get him motivated to get him where I am right now because carving can take you places.”
Brown said it’s more than just whakairo at school but also a space that allows them to express themselves.
“Learning about whakairo has connected to me with my pepeha and my whakapapa, where I come from. Who I am as Māori.
“All the Māori students come in here because when they go out there they’re whakamā, they’re shy... when they come in here we can turn them into chiefs.”
The group will also be leading interactive workshops exploring whakairo (Māori carving) using traditional patterns.
Savannah Wilson is another student who laser-cuts her whakairo.
“I started back in year 9 or 10 when I was a junior. It was hard as a Māori, especially in a mainly Pacific Islander-dominated school, to express myself. It was really hard.
“We met Taf [our kaiako] and found out what whakairo was. It was a way for us to escape from everything.”
It was a home away from home and a safe space, she said.
The exhibition will include work from Benjamin Brown, Freddy Tuakalau, Jacob Paul, Rivah-Shae Nohe and Savannah Wilson and curated by Anna Delany and their kaiako Jay Mason.