Title: Te Aroha
Year: 2017
Length: 04:45
Format: HD video
Credits:
During the occupation* of Niki’s house, weekly waiata** nights have been held to foster whanaungatanga***. The collective voices can be heard along Taniwha Street on a Thursday evening, travelling easily because of the empty spaces. The redevelopment is physically dismantling Glen Innes, through the removal of houses by truck or demolition (in this video, 69 Taniwha Street). But in their place stands a different form of community – one that is growing ever stronger. On the day of filming (23/03), Niki had again been under a direct threat of eviction. She closed Waiata Club with this: “This has been the hardest day of these last six years. But we’re still here. And we’re still singing.”
Ngā mihi Tāmaki Housing Group & Waiata Club.
* facebook.com/thishomeisoccupied
** song
*** kinship, a relationship of shared experiences through working together that creates a sense of belonging
Thematic tags: documentary, capitalism, politics, decoloniality, sound, spirituality, indigenous methodologies, housing (Te Aroha)

Title: Te Wai Mokoia
Year: 2016
Length: 17:30
Format: HD video
Credits:
Te Wai Mokoia was the winner of Uxbridge’s 10th Estuary Art Awards. It is a unique single edition belonging to the Auckland Council.

This work considers ecology not only in relation to biology, but in relation to a wider understanding of ecology – that of the relationships between people, their whenua, and social and political frameworks. It is centred on a specific ecology, presented through a kōrero between a kuia and her whāngai daughter, both long term residents of Glen Innes. The health of Te Wai Mokoia cannot be separated from its people, a community that is fighting to stay in their homes. 

Tāmaki is currently undergoing “regeneration”, a process through which thousands of state housing tenants are being affected. Many residents are refusing to be moved away from their homes – a collective resistance that is taking a huge toll on the community’s hauora. Our people are made vulnerable by a colonial capitalist state, and our safety nets are being removed through governmental policy.

The work considers all that extends from a house – childhood memories, the garden we bury in and grow from, and the environment surrounding it. For residents of Glen Innes, the estuary is a site of resource gathering, of learning and exploration, and a place to foster interconnectedness with nature. Te Wai Mokoia flows through this community as wairua tapu.
Thematic tags: documentary, capitalism, politics, decoloniality, environment/ecology, landscape sound, spirituality, indigenous methodologies, housing (Te Wai Mokoia)