Street art collection grows
One of the feature pieces of this year’s Graffiato Festival is a Taupō slant on Tourism New Zealand’s 100% Pure New Zealand logo.
The new artwork by Taupō artist Gemma Clough is in the alleyway beside Baku on Roberts St and is one of eight new artworks for the festival this year.
Destination Great Lake Taupō general manager Patrick Dault describes the mural as “a love letter to Taupō”.
It is thought to be the first time the 100% Pure New Zealand branding has landed in a permanent spot on Aotearoa.
Gemma started work on the mural on a laneway wall last week, and it was unveiled at a midday ceremony on Thursday last week, ahead of the three-day Graffiato Festival.
The festival has added 85 major street art works to the town over the past 15 years.
Each letter of the mural frames a medley of iconic Taupō landscapes including the lake, mountains, rivers and a rainbow over Huka Falls, along with wildlife like tuī, piwakawaka, kererū, whio and kōwhai blooms.
The mural includes a QR code that visitors can use to learn more about the icons featured in the painting.
The same birds and rivers are also represented on the giant intricately carved pou at the centre of the nearby Te Ātea public space.
“It’s cool that we now have two significant but distinctly different installations almost side-by-side, both celebrating our Taupō story — a contemporary artistic realisation and a traditional sculptural piece paying homage to the land and people of Ngāti Tūwharetoa, the first people of this place,” Patrick says.
Aka Gemini when it comes to street art, Gemma is a Taupō-born artist and graphic designer who has completed several murals for Graffiato Festivals.
“My design is a celebration of our natural beauty. Every time I come home from a holiday, I crest the control gate hill and am always stunned with the beauty of the place we live in.
“Every time I have visitors, I make sure I take them to Huka Falls because it’s such a special place. When I go, I always feel life’s worries are washed away there, that everything is in perspective, that life is good.”
