An Auckland couple have realised their dream of creating a life-size crocheted wharenui.
Wharenui Harikoa (House of Joy) is a big, bright, and colourful art installation, described by the artists as "a refracting prism of tupuna-inspired light that shines across the sky like a rainbow" – he poro whakahakoko, ko Uenuku tāwhana ki te rangi.
It took husband and wife duo Lissy and Rudi Robinson-Cole three years to complete – the woolly whare built to feel like you’re "being embraced under a blankie with your nanny".
"You know, all our relationships we have with our kaumātua, kuia, so special," Lissy said.
The sentiment is shared by Rudi, who believes that's the beauty of their chosen medium.
"The power of the wool that takes our hearts back to our nannies, to our mums and our aunties, but also the power of the wool that can take us to the future of what our toi could look like and, you know, that’s exciting," he said.
The whare has pou depicting the stars of Matariki, a kaupapa the couple felt was just right for the project.
"We thought, well, Matariki was perfect for this theme of a wharenui because Matariki said to us that we need to come together as whānau, and to share our stories, and just to be together," Rudi said.
The soft structure is made up of nearly 5000 balls of wool, and at 47m of yarn per ball, the artists say it’s about the distance from Auckland to Taupō – a distance they hope the whare will travel beyond.
"As soon as the vision of a wharenui came to us, we knew and we could feel that this whare would tour throughout Aotearoa, and then the world," Lissy said.
"We always felt that this whare will have a global impact of aroha."
With that in mind, they reached out to "bring people from around the world into the house", inviting four international textile artists to collaborate on a pou.
"It’s been really awesome, and we knew that everything would be really different, but we sent them all the wool so that we knew that would be the unifying factor, would be the use of our wool.
"It was a really beautiful experience to collaborate with these four different artists."
And they plan to reach out to other creatives, too.
"We see Wharenui Harikoa as a living whare," explained Rudi.
"So we see us working with other indigenous groups to reimagine our different pou, so that we can work with indigenous groups, aboriginal groups. We can work around the South Pacific and we can interchange each of our pou, to reimagine Matariki, because we all look at Matariki in one way in a different way."
Lissy said they are motivated by a higher calling.
"For us, there is an urgency and just an absolute deep desire to embrace people with this soft wharenui that’s all wool, that’s all neon, that’s about bringing healing and aroha and connection," she said.
Wharenui Harikoa will officially be unveiled to the public at the Waikato Museum on November 30, with future plans to take it on a national and international tour.
In the meantime, people can view some of their other crocheted pieces, including photos of the wharenui, in their exhibition E Te Tau at Auckland's Tim Melville Gallery until July 22.
Glossary
wharenui – meeting house
harikoa – joy, happiness
whare – house, building
kaumātua – elder(s)
toi – art
pou – post
kaupapa – theme, cause
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