The Aoteatea Project, 'Waikura', My Shed in Taumarunui

Project: Aoteatea Whakairo

This project represents a spiritual reflection of my world. I decided to carve the front of my shed to give it the prestige it deserves after completing the 'Te Maunga Kura Toi' degree program.

The kōruru (front mask) represents Rua-te-pupuke (the personification of knowledge) and the manaia at the raparapa represent Tūmatauenga (contextual) and Rongo (conceptual). All these elements are essential for carving. The pūhoro kōwhaiwhai design represents a tohu, an accomplishment, also speed and agility in all these elements above.

I based the kōruru on a wheku mask, Tāne in his propped-up position and a cow's pelvis, a mnemonic to the Taurus star constellation and connectivity to the earth element. The Taurus constellation is one of the key 4 zodiac markers, marking summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the Māori New Year (Matariki) in June/July time.

The kōruru faces exactly north, which aligns with England's Stonehenge monument. I was brought up 28km away in a small town called Andover, so this is rather significant to me.

Westward my Rongo manaia faces the Great Pyramids of Giza, as the opposing side Tū faces Tongariro. On an Egyptian level I have designed these manaia in a subtle adapted form of the Ankh symbol. These symbols represent the keys to the golden gate (gate of the gods), [Scorpio] - on Rongo's side and silver gate (the gate of man), [Taurus] - on Tū's side. They depict the journey of the soul and birth and death of the Sun every twelve hours.

The Milky Way bisects the ecliptic along the zodiac cycle through the two points of Taurus and Scorpio, hence on rare occasions the event of galactic alignment conjunction happens where Earth aligns with the galactic centre.