Ara Manawa

Artwork

CreatorYoung, Georgina MayNameAra ManawaDate Made2025Medium DescriptionMuka, indigo, coreopsis, uku, mineral watercolour, kauri gum, houhere, linen, cotton.Object NumberLU351Credit LinePhotographs by Steven Junil Park taken at the BHU Organic College at Lincoln University.Further informationAra Manawa is a work of grounding and guardianship—a celebration of the vibrant and fertile connections working together with whenua, wairua, and potential.

A kaitiaki with a forked tongue nestled deep in te wai, a tohu of knowledge-holding and ancestral kōrero, of fertility and nurturing meaningful growth. Three fingers in the kune position meaning to swell or grow and the unbroken cycle of life, birth and death.

Niho taniwha patterns echo from them as a whakapapa of plants and people—of gardeners, their feet grounded in soil. Large sky’s and water always with Ranginui and Papatuanuku present, as a celebration of their enduring embrace and separation.

Muka binds this realm to connection to whenua and the mauri of houhere and tānekaha—taonga materials that embody appreciation and generosity of the ngāhere. Indigo and coreopsis dyes grown by Gina Russell on her organic plant farm connecting the piece and bringing their own whakapapa—hard mahi, dedication , and hope embedded in wild, joyful colour. These elements are combined with intention, expressing abundance, reciprocity, and aroha.

The hue, stitched with muka, is both vessel and breath—hā—its rounded form a keeper of life and sustenance. Pātiki patterns speak to generosity, abundance, and the rhythmic pull of tides that connect us.

The muka nohoanga invites rest—a place to settle, to root, to rise. It symbolises care, determination, and the quiet resilience of new growth pushing through, that we all need rest to rebuild strength.

To see the back of the work is to glimpse the life beneath: our own vulnerability, the roots in the soil, the unseen systems that sustain, nourish, and connect us all.
Artwork CopyrightAll rights reservedArt CollectionLincoln University Art CollectionKeywordsEcologyLand | whenuaVegetation | Te Wao nui a TānePlants | Te Wao nui a Tāne

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Ara Manawa

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