Sacred wisdom and creative connection: celebrating the Women’s Art Initiative

WAI was founded in 2013 by Massey alumna Dr Karen Seccombe. It began in a tiny dental clinic with just seven wāhine (women), as a form of resistance and response to violence and abuse they had experienced. Over the past 13 years, WAI has grown from a small art group into a dynamic collective who share strong words, challenge negative stereotypes, ask society to take responsibility and continue to grow.

This year’s exhibition will showcase a variety of art forms including canvas, clay works and an outdoor installation in the beautiful Tiritea House gardens.

Dr Seccombe says the kaupapa for this year’s exhibition is sacred wisdom.

“Sacred wisdom is about trusting our own intuition. Trusting who we are and that what we do matters and is good enough.”

Dean of Postgraduate Research and WAI Trust Board Chair Professor Tracy Riley says the venue has a great deal of significance to the exhibition.

“Tiritea House is a place rich with history. We’ve curated some amazing art pieces for people to enjoy in such a beautiful space on the Manawatū campus. Many of our alumni will recognise the house; it’s been here since the beginning of the university. It’s a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the art and a special part of our campus.”

The concept of WAI emerged during Dr Seccombe’s postgraduate studies in Māori visual arts in 2012. Dr Seccombe was met with powerful social responses to her Master of Māori Visual Arts exhibition, a series of 12 large paintings exploring her experiences of violence.

“I painted because I didn’t want to talk, but I was asked to speak publicly about the works. I sat with them for two weeks and interacted with the public, hearing many disclosures and felt a huge sense of reclamation of power through voicing this narrative. If this approach gave me a voice, then I felt it might for other wāhine also.”

The vision of WAI was to create a space that was not therapy-based but facilitated autonomy with collective processes around the exhibition. The core mission is centred around creative connection and it’s enabling voice through art making.

“It’s the way we treat each other as a collective; that each of our voices are important, no matter in which way we speak them, which words or how we string those words together. All our making is beautiful. There’s no defined way of making art,” Dr Seccombe says.

“It is about bringing people together, bringing their strengths together and letting them express their experiences, who they are as people, just to be themselves,” Professor Riley adds.

Attend a facilitated exhibition viewing during the following hours from 4 to 23 October:

• Mondays 10am to 2pm
• Tuesdays 10am to 2pm
• Wednesdays 3pm to 6pm
• Thursdays 3pm to 6pm
• Fridays 10am to 2pm

The WAI Trust Board is also launching Friends of WAI, an opportunity for supporters to contribute to the collective on Wednesday 9 October at 5:15pm at Tiritea House. This is a chance to see the work of the artists and hear about the kaupapa.

You can read more about the exhibition here.