27/08/2026
He Pōkai Tīeke syndicate visited Puke Ariki and Govett Brewster on Wednesday. They checked out the Reef Alive exhibit and the Nature Listening-Miharo exhibit. Both sessions were loosely focused on our current work around being Kaitiaki of our Awa - but widened the scope to look at our responsibilities for sustaining clean waterways and oceans, as well as protecting wildlife from predators.
In the Nature Listening workshop our tamariki explored sound as a messenger, combining careful listening with imagination to capture sound through hands-on mark making. Following, a sensory rich introduction to selected artworks from Direct Bodily Empathy – Sound, Signal, Feedback, our tamariki created their own response through gestures, and symbols as they investigated how to give te taiao a voice.
In the learning centre, tamariki transformed their ideas into a montage using rau (leaf) and rākau rubbed textures, along with sound marks that show which creatures are allowed or not allowed inside a predator-proof fenced ngahere. We learned that this process works towards bringing our ancient forests back to life.
With Reef Alive, we had an amazing opportunity to use VR headsets to explore the ocean reef. That was amazing.
Whaea Tash created lessons that helped us to fully understand that we can’t disrupt a lifecycle without devastating effects.
