Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air
A group of young Pasifika creatives known as Period7 are working to make the art scene more accessible for South Auckland youth.
Created through a web of Tagata Moana artists, Geoffery Matautia, aka @southsides, wanted to give the next generation of creatives the tools and resources he didn’t have growing up.
Period7 hosts a range of interactive workshops, from rug tufting to screen printing for creating graphic t-shirts, tote bags, and posters, to filmmaking, photography and modelling.
The grassroots collective ensures Pasifika youth fulfil their creative potential, with an emphasis on community and connection.
Geoffrey says, “When people see other people who look like them and are doing cool things, they naturally gravitate towards being in the same space as them, like you’ll see [in] all of our workshops is just brown faces.”
We went along to a screen printing workshop held at the Fresh Gallery in Ōtara, hosted by one of Period7’s creatives, Keciano, whose designs are seen throughout a video presentation, which gives a glimpse into the special community they’ve fostered.
Nita, a 21-year-old oil painter from Clendon Park, says Period7 has helped her become a more collaborative creator because their Discord channel, (an online community platform), allows users to share their art and receive feedback from the different types of creatives within the collective.
Dallas, a 17-year-old student from De La Salle College in Māngere, says Period7 has opened his eyes to other art forms and hopes to pass the torch on to the next generation.
“It’s not like every parent’s dream for their children to be in the arts. They want them to be a lawyer or a doctor but like, I just wanna show- I wanna find a job where I can make it easier for the next generation.”
Jude, a 17-year-old from Papatoetoe, says there are challenges with the NCEA art curriculum that can limit their creative freedom and can be exhausting to the point where it causes them to not want to pursue art anymore.
However Period7 is seen as a chance to make them love art again.
“You realise what art really is when you’re surrounded by other people, at these galleries that we usually don’t have in South Auckland. We need more of these so that Pacific Islander kids know that we’re capable of doing things like this,” says Jude.
Period7 will be launching a Moana x Boosted campaign on the 20th of October to help raise funds for a creative holiday program aimed to increase the participation of youth in the arts. It will be run by local artists with the hopes of kicking off their first program in 2023.
Credits:
Cam Operator & Editor: Ann-Tauilo Motuga
Audio Engineer: Leo Foliaki
Music Intro: Pua Maliu – LEAO
Extra Footage: Period7
