My Kawa

In the course New Zealand Narratives, I was tasked with creating a visual piece based off of my kawa; my values.

My visual representation shows a story of me taking a path across hills, and growing and becoming a happier person, with more focus and clarity on what I value. It first starts with me coming across dead trees and grass. The landscape is bare, and dry, and the path is windy and confusing. I then walk up a slope and come out and my whānau is there. They are there to help me, and let me talk to them. I then progress further onto another hill in which I start to replenish the environment, I plant some food, and even move away from the path, braving to spend some time in the surrounding environment. The last hill is one I haven’t reached yet, it is surrounded by beautiful plants, flowers and mushrooms, and the path is straight to show my mind is more focused and clear.

My story reflects on my chosen values of whānau, veganism, and change, with an overall theme of growth. My whānau are clearly represented as I have drawn them in my piece. I haven’t always been close with my family and I didn't really turn to them for help for fear of being seen as weak, especially as the youngest child. After moving out I’ve realised that my family have issues of their own, they also need someone to talk to. On top of this my family is also extremely smart and skilled in different areas and looking back it seems silly to not ask for help when they have more experience than me in a lot of areas. Now I am so much closer to my whānau and I really enjoy their company, and their aroha. I've come to realise that by isolating yourself, you can't grow, and you spiral and it can be very lonely. I am so grateful to have my family with me and by my side and I'm sad I didn't realise it sooner.

My value of veganism connects with Te Ao Māori, and looking to the taiao, the environment to guide you. This is shown through my visual story through showing how the taiao changes depending on how I treat it. The environment becomes a much nicer, thriving place when I take care of the koiora: the animals, the plants and the humans. This really is reflecting on my recent uptake in veganism, which is still a journey I am on! Over the past year I have been making a transition towards veganism as it is important to me in terms of lessening suffering, saving the environment, and for my health as well. If I don’t take care of the environment, I may end up back in a place surrounded by dead trees and feeling isolated.

Lastly, change is something that I have always compulsively needed. I get into ruts, feel restless or trapped and need something to shake up the consistency in my life. I have found this particularly recently, in the past month, as my flat has had to isolate twice and since having covid myself and being stuck in bed all day, I have had a total lack of motivation, and doing things for more than a few hours can be exhausting. Through making different social plans, taking lots of walks and changing up my study environment have all helped in regaining my energy and my wairua. This is represented in my design through the physical act of walking, and actually changing locations, being in nature, and again connecting with whānau and friends.

While writing up these values I realised that they all kind of represent me growing as a designer and as a person, so overall I value growth and progression over perfection. Moving from Te Whanganui a Tara to Tāmaki Makaurau, I felt like an outsider and isolated. Since then I have grown to find a community that I belong to, I feel comfortable exploring the city more, found some awesome vegan cafes, and have friends that I can talk to. I have also grown on my journey to becoming a designer because when I started uni I was completely new to design and didn't know who I was, what style I liked or what I was 'good at' and this has built up over the past 2 years and is continually evolving. The path I’m taking doesn’t stop. It doesn’t have an end point because I don’t believe you can ever be perfect and follow your values perfectly. I am still on a journey and still needing to maintain and work on my values to remind myself of them and why they are important to me.