WAI

'WAI'-'Manga Maha, Awa Kotahi- One River Many Streams' is an exhibition about using art to reconnect our community with waterways and wetlands in our landscape. It is inspired by the love of rivers and the creatures that live in them, by the people and the politics of and around our waterways. The braided facets of water issues facing us is now critical and now is the time to advocate for the river herself.

WAI has a team of artists and historians working together to create an immersive installation of sculpture, video and sound. Lead by ceramic artist, Sam Ludden, the team will bring a riverscape into the gallery. His work will include over 80 ceramic eels bubbling up from a subterranean stream  and into a 5m long stream only to be blocked by a huge wall to negotiate.

The sculpture soundscape, produced by Cody Field, uses a variety of sound samples and techniques including recordings from Warren Maxwell's expedition of Antartica, and the philosophy of local Kahungunu water activist Rawiri Smith.

Siv B. Fj?restad will be creating a map of the Makoura catchment using collected samples of plants and found objects from waterway locations to focus our attention on the flow of water through the heart of Masterton.

Local historian, Gareth Winter, will be exhibiting a selection of quotes and historical photos about waterways in the Wairarapa and has partnered with Anna-Marie Kingsley, a Carterton based artist and designer, to create an amazing new stormwater/manhole cover design which will double as a logo for WAI.

To all those who donated to the last 'Project Wai' campaign, thank you so much. It has allowed this project to get off the ground and evolve into a much wider collaborative art exhibition involving an exciting group of artists.  It has also allowed me to create an exhibition that has pushed my artistic boundaries and taken my work to another level.  

This second crowdfunding campaign is to raise funds to pay the other WAI artists who are on board the exhibition waka. The art work they are creating for us, the community, is important and so far they have been working on good-will and passion. If you agree with me and think they should be paid for their mahi then please support us by donating what you can. 

If you are from outside the Wairarapa/Wellington region I hope WAI will come to a gallery near you. Please contact me if you would like to see the exhibition travel to your local area. 

Please like our Facebook Page WAI by Sam Ludden Ceramics to stay in the loop.