Light trail to celebrate Matariki goes on display
Auckland's Te Ara Rama Matariki Light Trail.
Photo:
Supplied
A reflective light trail celebrating Matariki is on display for two weeks in the Auckland CBD, stretching for two kilometres from Myers Park to the waterfront.
Auckland Council said the trail is guided by light and sound effects created by Māori artists, celebrating wai (water) - including the waters of Te Waihorotiu stream, the Waitematā Harbour and the life-giving value of rain.
It said the trail is designed to allow people to pause and reflect on the rich history of the city centre.
The trail begins with a stairway at Myers Park, designed by Tessa Harris (Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki), with patterns depicting pātiki (flounder), accompanied by the sounds of Waimahara.
Turning on to Queen Street, a series of art installations tell the ancient stories of place - including Hotoriu - a nine-metre kaitiaki that symbolically guards the ancestral river, and the Waharoa (archway) in Aotea Square by artist Selwyn Murupaenga.
The area carries the historic footprints of local Māori tribes who have thrived in the space for hundreds of years.
Towards the harbour, a Kawau Tikitiki (a cormorant/shag) is suspended in flight above the street, and anyone visiting the area can walk beneath Te Wehenga between Fort Street and Shortland Street.
Meanwhile, the downtown part of the light trail begins at Te Komititanga, the public square by Britomart train station.
A brand new trail of light installations and lightboxes links Te Komititanga along Galway Street to Takutai Square and Māhuhu ki te Rangi Park (near Spark Arena).
In Takutai Square, a light and sound installation by Arama Tamariki-Enu, Angus Muir and Catherine Ellis depicts patterns mimicking the star-like shapes of the Matariki cluster.
An accompanying soundscape brings the sounds of the foreshore and forest before the modern city was founded.
The Tūhono light projections in Takutai Square will play every evening from Thursday 19 June to Thursday 10 July, with a seven-minute light and sound sequence every quarter-hour from 5pm until 10pm.
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