Artist Statement
My piece is targeted towards tangata whenua (Maori people) and how it is our obligation as guardians of the land to look after the ocean and the land. The wall depicts and whale and a pukaea – which is a war trumpet to signal to the tribe that something bad is coming. It’s cut up in sections between the whale and the pukaea. It’s also to show that the whale is a taonga (gift) that we should hand down to the future generations. The text also says ‘What’s a Profit Today is a Debt for Tomorrow,’ meaning 'what you steal from the ocean today is taking from the children of tomorrow.'
