Whangarei says ‘colour our city!’

Stiltwalkers, giant puppet masks, dancers and thousands of brightly dressed people paraded through the streets of Whangarei on Saturday as part of the inaugural Colour Our City celebration.

The celebration was pulled together by the local community – and supported by Prosper Northland Trust – to build on the grassroots movement to ‘colour’ Whangarei in the lead-up to the public referendum on whether to build the Hundertwasser Wairau Maori Art Centre.

The celebration included the presentation of prizes in the Colour Our City school art competition and Billboard Battle, organised by well-known Town Basin gallery, The Bach with support from PNT.

Whangarei residents have been painting everything from letterboxes to vehicles to 8-metre murals as a way to show their support for the proposed art centre.

The movement started with the highly-publicised painting of Council-owned bollards outside The Bach gallery led to a groundswell of ‘Hundertwassing’ enthusiasm. The Whangarei Loves Hundertwasser Facebook page have been posting new examples of local acts or artivism every week.Organisers say they hope the Colour Our City celebration will become an annual event. “It’s a great excuse for colour and community enthusiasm in our city and a tangible way to show support for our very important creative sector” says PNT member Pam Tothill. While the 2015 event was heavily Hundertwasser-themed due to the upcoming referendum PNT imagines the celebration will take inspiration from a variety of colourful sources in the future.

100s of photos from the event, submitted by people who took part in the fun, can be viewed on the Colour Our City Facebook page.