AMELIA BLUNDELL
Amelia Blundell celebrating the Tai o Hī Tai o Hā exhibition opening 8 May 2021
Photographer: Jos Wheeler
Ngā taonga no Tai o Hī Tai o Hā kei te kainga o Amelia.
Ipu uku by Ameila, gifted to Carla
TAIOHI 2021
Ko Maungaemiemi te maunga
Ko Whangaroa te moana
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua me
Maamari ngā waka
Ko Ururoa te tūpuna
He uri ahau no Ngāpuhi me Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa
Ko Blundell tōku whānau
Kei te Whanganui-A-Tara ahau e noho ana
Ko Amelia Blundell tōku ingoa.
Amelia is a story-teller both in spoken and written forms.
She loves landscape architecture and design and also painting and drawing. Amelia is a tactile person so creating with her hands is important to her whether it’s planting, growing and harvesting or painting and drawing. Amelia paints with watercolours and oil paints on leftover pieces of wood or paper.
One thing that Amelia really wants to accomplish in her creative practice is learning to weave with various materials.
Learning tikanga and te reo Māori is important to Amelia as she believes that this is important to enrich her creative practices and is an essential part of who she is.
Amelia believes that everyone is creative and should have the right to express themselves in the forms they need to, especially young people who can struggle in mainstream education but through creative practices, can learn so much.
Amelia was one of our successful Creative New Zealand Writing Internship recipients. She interviewed and wrote two articles for our newsletter Ngā Pū Kōrero focusing on ringatoi Victor Te Paa and Carla Ruka, you can read more about her experience here:
Ko Amelia Blundell toku ingoa, he uri ahau nō Ngāti Kahu ki Whangaroa me Ngāpuhi.
Writing itself has always been a challenge for me but I love the process that sits behind it. I think writing is a powerful way of capturing and sharing our experiences with others. I am excited to have this opportunity to kōrero with ringatoi nō Ngāpuhi-nui-tonu and am grateful to be trusted to write up their stories. The first article enabled me to connect and meet Victor Te Paa, a ringatoi I've always admired from back home in Whangārei. Victor was incredibly generous with his time and his kōrero. It was awesome to learn more about him and a lot of what he shared with me has helped me on my toi journey - ngā mihi nui e hoa.
The most inspiring part of the internship was being exposed to different ringatoi and having the privilege to learn about their journey and how it shapes their mahi toi. Our mentor Raewyn also helped me to realise that although mahi toi can speak for itself in many ways, a lot of our ringatoi have many amazing untold stories and lessons waiting to be shared and writing is a way we can celebrate and share those.
The writing internship gave us the experience of the whole process from start to finish, we were supported and trusted to make contact with ringatoi right through to learning about invoicing and logistics planning. This gave us insights into the processes and planning required to draft and publish writing. I definitely learnt new skills in terms of my writing, how to make things more concise and clear, how to ask for feedback, and how to capture the essence of your kōrero with a person instead of trying to remember everything that was said.
I think it is true that our toi does have a reo of its own. However after talking to Carla and Victor, I do believe it is important we take the time to think, talk, reflect, and write about our ringatoi as they have so many amazing stories, insights, and mātauranga that help us see and feel the joy our culture brings us and the world!