Painting the H-Town
This year’s Boon Festival brings to 48 the number of city walls transformed by artists
What: The Boon Street Art Festival
The Artists: Erika Pearce, Peter Robinson (aka Ten Hundred), Tony Diaz, Hana Maihi (aka Hine+) and Poihakena Ngawati (aka Techs), Kieran Horner
Where: YWCA Hamilton, Clarence Street Theatre, Victoria on the River, The Meteor Theatre
Good performances make the stage disappear for a moment. Great performances change the stage forever.
This is the thought that comes to mind as I stand in the sun, basking in the presence and processes of six street artists making their mark in Kirikiriroa.
It is day three of the Boon Street Art Festival 2020. There is a hum of urgency around each site as the artists’ deadline approaches. The air is full of paint fumes. The concrete is littered with rollers, spray cans, paint pottles, and bottles of sunblock. Volunteers in high-vis and Boon branded T-shirts hand out maps smiling like the fans they are.
And the artists? They are doing their thing with equal parts purpose and energy.
“I love all the colours,” Peter Robinson (aka Ten Hundred) tells me as he shakes up a new can of Tulip Blue Light. The wall behind him is nearly complete, a cast of characters that mix folklore and cartoon in lively pink, orange, blue, green, and yellow, to name a few. Peter really does take his colours seriously.
On the other side of Anglesea Street at Victoria on the River, Poihakena Ngawati has a different focus. He and Hana Maihi have been working on this portrait of young chief Turanga Kerr since Thursday. “I had this idea six years ago,” he explains, looking up at the strong face. The huia perched on Turanga’s shoulder, and the Te Reo proverb, “Ka pū te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi”, (As one net ages, another is remade) convey a powerful message of leadership.
Speaking to the artists face-to-face is one of the best parts of the festival, tied with the joy of watching art being made before your eyes. It is an immersive experience that has changed our cityscape, and our calendar, for the better.
The effects of Boon also extend beyond the festival itself. Shoppers at Pak’n’Save Clarence Street will visit a fantasy land whenever they use the carpark. Visitors of Victoria on the River will follow a leader’s gaze over the river, and ponder how our actions affect the future.
Boon Street Art Festival began in 2015. It is organised by a team of volunteers who say they are here, “because great cities are creative cities.” To date 48 walls have been beautified across Hamilton.
That is a success and, looking to next year’s festival, I’d call Boon a great performance.
