Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans in New Zealand aims to raise awareness about the plight of the ocean
All City Canvas had the opportunity to be a part of the latest edition of PangeaSeed Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans festival in Napier, New Zealand and we have an exclusive video recap of what happened down there.
PangeaSeed the international marine conservation organization, in collaboration with the Napier City Council and Alternative Arts Initiative wrapped it up its groundbreaking partnership to create a series of Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans in New Zealand to raise awareness about the plight of the ocean.
It will be a beautification process, with a 30 renowned contemporary artists from New Zealand and overseas will descend on the city to paint murals on large-scale concrete walls in Ahuriri and the Napier area.
Napier is a very timely and appropriate location for this Sea Walls: Murals for Oceans activation, given that New Zealand is characterized by unique flora and fauna and a variety of landforms contained within a small island nation. The world’s oceans cover 70% of our planet. As New Zealand is an island nation, the health of the ocean, land and people are all linked together.
Historically having an isolated and endemic ecosystem far into modernity. The arrival of Polynesians about 1280 and then later European settlers began to have significant impacts on this system. For example, with the intentional and unintentional introduction of new species and plants. Which often overwhelmed their natural competitors, leading to a significant loss of native ecology and biodiversity, especially in areas such as bird life and the ocean.
The first mural painting festival to take place in Napier
The festival took place on Hawke’s Bays pristine coastal town of Napier. A perfect location for this activation, with an abundance of blank walls in great visible populated areas. Sea Walls will be the first mural painting festival to take place in Napier.
This project has great potential and became a catalyst for positive change within the local community and beyond. PangeaSeed Foundation, the Napier City Council and Alternative Arts Initiative aimed to address issues that affect Napier’s coastal communities via inspirational public art. They believe that art, design and new media can transcend cultural and linguistic boundaries.
Our ACC contributors of Chop ‘Em Down Films –Zane Meyer & Derek Hackett– captured the amazing vibe of the festival and this pretty much sums up what happened during the first days of painting! #killervibes
Enjoy and Share! Stay tuned, because we will release all finished murals and artists topics very soon!
